118 A BOTANICAL TOUR. 



In some, bristly and smooth flower-stalks occurred on the same plant, and 

 frequently a Rose with all its flower-stalks profusely bristly, occurred by 

 the side of one without a single bristly stalk. This Rose seems uni- 

 versally diffused along the sandy shores of England and Wales, as well 

 as in the interior of the country. Mr. Watson notices it in seventeen 

 counties, from Northumberland to Surrey, and I have traced it along the 

 Welsh coast, from Aberdovey, Merionethshire, to the coast of Glamor- 

 ganshire southward. 



Sedum aore. — In profusion, gilding the sands in many places. 



*Eryngium maritimum. — Plentiful and singularly beautiful among the stones 

 close to the walk along the burrows. The heads of delicate blue flowers, 

 with anthers of the same colour, armed with " a gorgeous ruff of leaves 

 with snowy points," themselves with bright amethystine veins, arrest the 

 attention, even while the tide is pouring in with accumulated rage. This 

 plant must be inserted in the Botanist's Guide, as a regular denizen of 

 the sea-side from Aberystwith to Swansea. 



*Carduus tenuifiorus. — Sparingly along the shore. 



Convolvulus Soldanella. — In various spots on the sand-banks this flower pre- 

 sented itself very conspicuously, unfolding its large purple bells in the 

 humid twilight. 



* Euphorbia paralia. — On the sand-banks, near the spot where the Oyster- 



mouth tram-road crosses a small rivulet running into the sea. 



* Car ex arenaria. — Extremely plentiful on almost all the sand-banks along the 



burrows. 

 *Ammophila arundinacea. — Frequent all along the sand-banks. 

 *Elymus arenarius. — On the banks with the preceding, but less common. 

 Both these grasses have received great praise for their utility in binding 

 the sand upon the sea-shore, and the lamented Sir. J. E. Smith says, that 

 this is " perhaps the very best of all plants to resist the force of the sea." 

 But it seems to be overlooked, that they also collect the sand in such con- 

 siderable banks about them, that when the wind blows from the shore, 

 a deluge of sand is borne inland, rendering the labours of the husband- 

 man abortive, covering roads and green fields, and even showing a high 

 stone-wall to be an ineffectual barrier. 

 On the. following morning I proceeded to Oystermouth, and climbed the car- 

 boniferous limestone rocks that here stretch across the peninsula of Gower. The 

 view of the little harbour below, filled with fishing vessels, the expanse of sea 

 beyond, with the distant coasts of Somerset and Devon, and the Mumbles islets 

 and lighthouse on the right, has a very pleasing effect. I found a variety of plants 

 upon these cliffs, and all within a very confined space, upon the sides and sum- 



