A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 579 



that are known to have been introduced by man. Some of the 

 larger shrubs might be much more extensively used than they are 

 for windbreaks against the salt spray and sea-foam* along exposed 

 shores. The "Sea-side Grape" (Coccoloba) is well adapted for this 

 use. The Mangrove and Black Mangrove are of great value in pro- 

 tecting certain shores from erosion by the sea, as well as against 

 winds, while their peculiar roots serve efficiently to entangle vege- 

 table debris and silt, and thus add to the extent and fertility of the 

 shores. 



Scurvy Grass. (Cakile cequalls L. H.) 



Common on the shores. Also on the southeastern coast of the 

 United States and in the West Indies. Sometimes cooked and 

 eaten, as greens, by the natives. 



Mahoe. [Hibiscus tiliaceus L.= Paritiurn tiliacewn Juss. ; Gris.) 



A large malvaceous tree, with large heart-shaped leaves, gray 

 below. It is found on most tropical coasts. A fine tree grows at 

 Somerville ; a few at Walsingham and elsewhere ; not common. 

 It has been raised from seed cast ashore at the islands. Found on 

 nearly all tropical coasts. 



* Much of the damage done to vegetation by the winds near all sea coasts is 

 due to masses of sea-foam, caught up from the shores, where it is formed by the 

 waves, even in moderate gales, and carried inland, often to long distances. 

 Lodging on leaves and branches, it kills or damages those plants that are not 

 immune, unless at once washed off by rain. 



In my own experiments, during more than fourteen years, in setting out trees 

 and hardy herbaceous plants on a small island in Long Island Sound, I have 

 often lost every specimen of certain species of herbaceous plants and trees from 

 this action of sea water in a single dry wind-storm, even after they had lived 

 and grown well for years in the same places. 



In the severe hurricane of Aug. 25, 1893, nearly all the native shrubs and 

 deciduous trees, as well as many cultivated ones, were killed by the foam and 

 spray, including Hickory Trees that were over 60 years old and up to a foot in 

 diameter. The native Eed Cedar, Pitch Pine, Japanese Privet and Ela?aginus, 

 Bayberry, and Poison Ivy were least injured, but the last two lost their foliage 

 and were partly killed, nearly to the ground. Had rain continued to the end of 

 the storm, so as to wash away the salt foam, little injury would have been done. 



This single storm, therefore, was sufficient to have exterminated many native 

 species of plants on islands of considerable size. On this occasion the salt 

 spray and foam seriously damaged the foliage of forest and fruit trees on the 

 mainland, even several miles from the shore. A white film of salt was observed 

 on the leaves of trees fifteen to twenty miles from the sea. 



