326 



George E. Nichols, 



and pebbles, ranging from the size of hens' eggs up to six inches 

 or more in diameter — the type of accumulation commonly 

 referred to as Shingle. Vegetation is sparse and xerophytic, 

 practically the only plants ordinarily present being the annual, 

 Cakile edenUila, and the herbaceous perennials, Lathyrus 

 maritimns and Mertensia maritima. The last-named species, the 

 so-called sea lungwort, with its glaucous foliage and rose-pink or 

 blue flowers, and growing in depressed, circular patches two or 



Figure 27. — Shingle beach near mouth of Barrasois River; forest of 

 white spruce, etc. along landward edge. 



three feet in diameter, is by far the most striking of the beach 

 plants. The upper beach includes that part of the beach which, 

 except during unusual storms, when parts or all of it may be 

 wave swept, lies beyond the reach of the waves at all seasons of 

 the year. Its crest is commonly more than three and occasionally 

 as much as six or eight feet higher than ordinary high tide level. 

 Stones are cast up on these higher beaches only by exceptionally 

 severe storms, perhaps years apart. Like the middle beach, the 

 upper beach, especially in its more exposed parts, may be little 

 more than a great stone heap on which, except for a frequently 



