CHAPTER VIII 



SAND DUNES 



IT has already been remarked that the sandy 

 beach between tide-marks, being desert, is botanically 

 uninteresting. But above high-tide level the seaward 

 fringe of the Land Flora presents many features that 

 may well arrest the attention. Where precipitous 

 rocks face the sea there is little to remark beyond 

 the straggling of the usual plants of the neighbour- 

 hood on to the slopes and ledges of the cliffs, but with 

 a few plants added that are peculiar to the coast. 

 Here may be found the Samphire, mentioned by 

 Shakespeare as gathered on Dover cliffs, where it 

 still grows and is collected for pickling. Or in 

 Scotland the Lovage, which has been used as a pot- 

 herb. The Wild Cabbage also, and the Carrot, Beet, 

 and Sea-Kale occur here and there. In fact the 

 Coastal Flora has given us the original stocks of 

 many of our most ancient garden vegetables, the 

 selection of them by our predecessors having doubt- 

 less been based upon the succulence of their foliage, 

 which is in relation to their growth upon saline soil. 



