654 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



In South Europe, Statice, Obione, and Aster, with the Salicorniae, likewise 

 occur, but partly in the form of other species, and with them Suaeda mari- 

 tima and Inula crithmoides. Worthy of note is the occurrence of the tall 

 Phelipaea tinctoria as a parasite on Chenopodiaceae on saline muddy soil. 

 Most of the species are succulent. 



Clay soil situated at a higher level is occupied by littoral meadows, 



which are distinguished from the neighbour- 

 ing inland meadows by the character of their 

 flora and by the more xerophilous structure 

 of their plants. Festuca thalassica predomi- 

 nates ; together with it there grow on North 

 European coasts such plants as Festuca 

 distans, Triglochin maritimum, Samolus 

 Valerandi, Glaux maritima, Trifolium fragi- 

 ferum. Such meadows pass quite gradually 

 over into non-saline inland meadows. 



The sandy shore, as in the tropics, is occu- 

 pied by plants only above high-tide mark. 

 In North Europe Salsola Kali, Cakile mari- 

 tima, Honckenya peploides, and Agropyron 

 junceum are the first to show themselves. 

 Usually behind the shore there rise dunes, 

 the outermost series of which are scantily 

 peopled, whilst the meadows exhibit an in- 

 creasing density and variety in their vegeta- 

 tion, with increasing distance from the sea. 

 The first, or at all events the most prominent 

 among the first settlers, are marram (Psamma 

 arenaria or Ammophila arenaria) and lyme- 

 grass (Elymus arenarius), which grow so 

 much the more luxuriantly the more sand there 

 is continuously blown on to the dune x , their 

 creeping and richly ramified rhizomes seizing 

 and fixing the sand (Fig. 397). In their com- 

 pany on the outermostdunes there grow plants 

 like Eryngium maritimum and Glaucium 

 flavum, as well as the plants of the flat sandy 

 shore. On older dunes on the North Sea, 

 Hippophae rhamnoides, Salix repens, roses, brambles, and numerous herbs 

 of non-halophilous character appear. 



The South European dunes exhibit quite similar distinctions between 



Fig. 396. Salicornia herbacea. 

 A halophilous, succulent plant. 



1 Buchenau, II, p. 252. 



