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VII. -The other marine flowering piants. 



In Professor Warming's work several times referred to on the »strand 

 vegetation« of Denmark, the few other marine flowering piants are described in 

 detail so that I ueed only mention them shortl}', the more so as they only rarely 

 occur in such quautities as to play any important part in the practical fishery. 



1. The small, above mentioned (p. 17) Dwarf Zostera or Dwarf 

 Grass-wrack (Zostera nana Rothj resembles in its structure the commou Zostera, 

 but is on the whole smaller and more delicate. It most often grows on sand 

 bottom in quite shailow water, from the low water mark to about '/., fathom, often 

 only to 1 — -2 feet in depth. The slender, brownish yellow, horizontal rootstock 

 is hidden in the sand, and from that projects the 10 — 2U cm. long, quite narrow 

 (1,5 — 2,5 mm.) ribbon-like leaves; the flowering shoots are generally single or a few 

 together and never form long, much branchiug, fan-shaped shoots as the common 

 Zostera does. The fruit is much smaller, often of a reddish purpie colour, and 

 the seeds are not longitudinally striped. 



The dwarf Zostera is found liere and there aloug all our coasts where 

 tliere is little motion; as it grows so near land, it cannot tlirive where the waves 

 beat strongly. It generally forms small, pure, fairly open and poor vegetations; 

 thus it occurs in the ditches on the »Vader« on the east coast ot Fanø, at Ny- 

 mindegab in Ringkøbing Fjord, ot¥ Holtemme on the north side of Læsø aud at 

 many other piaces; not rarely we find patches of dwarf Zostera alternating with 

 patches of narrow-leaved and low, commou Zostera. 



The dw^arf Zostera can, like this, thrive iu real salt water, as the above- 

 mentioned piaces show; it is however more frequently found in our inner waters; 

 I mav thus mention as examples Stavns Fjord on Samsø, Randers Fjord at Udbj'- 

 liøj, Korshavn on Fynshoved and Nakskov Fjord. 



It is of no importance as uourishmeut or as shelter to the marine animals, 

 as it is too deUcate aud its oceurreuce is besides too scattered and it never covers 

 large traets. — 



The remainder of our marine flowering plauts are all brackish water 

 piants; they do not stand the real salt water and are thus absent aloug the west 

 coast of Jutland, in the Lim Fjord (excepting, however, the least saline nooks, 

 e. g. Hjarljæk Fjord), and iu the northern and central Kattegat. The degree of 



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