255 



fine spray from the sea far over the land. On the stony clayish 

 beach, where now and then rocks emerge, the vegetation consists 

 of a quite low dense dark-green cover 1—3 inches high. The 

 greater part of the vegetation is Dactyloctenium cegyptium (L.) 

 Willd., with quite short 1—2 cm. long, pruinous, long-haired 

 leaves, and intermingled with it Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kth. 

 Among these grasses were growing low, dense mounds of Pedis 

 humifusa Sw. with fresh-green, small, smooth, rather thick, stiff 

 leaves and yellow flowers and Tephrosia cinerea (L.) Pers. with 

 grey-felted unevenly pinnate leaves. Scattered among the grass the 

 thick-leaved Portulacca oleracea L. with prostrate stems appeared 

 and Talinum triangulare (Jacq.) Willd. with thick tuberous roots, 

 and fleshy linear leaves, and lastly, Lippia nodifiora Rich, with its 



Fig. 37. Croton flavins L. A wind-blown specimen from Judiths Fancy, 



St. Croix. (F. B. phot.) 



rooting branches was creeping here and there among the grass. 

 In a few places where the soil was more sandy, there occurred 

 some small stunted tendrils of Ipomcea pes caprce with enormously 

 thick leaves, or a small Opuntia-mound was prominent. 



This vegetation reaches rather far into the country, and passes 

 gradually into low Cro^on-copse. At first the Cro^on-bushes are 

 quite espalier-shaped, adhering tightly to the ground with all the 

 branches turning the same way, like a banner blown away by the 

 wind. Fig. 37 shows a photograph of such a Croton-bush. 



And not only are these smaller bushes stamped by the enormous 

 power of the wind, but the Coccoloha and the manchineel are also 

 bent to the ground by it. Here and there on the slightly sloping flat 

 were found some scattered growing specimens of these species 

 which were all more or less lying tightly pressed against the ground. 



