SEA-COAST 



25 



sandy shores. The habit is prostrate, then ascend- 

 intj, the stem gfcniculate. The rootstock is stout 

 and blunt. The plant is hairy, with scattered, 

 spreading-, horizontal hairs. The leaves are nearly 

 round, 5-7 lobed, the lobes divided into 3 nearly 

 to the base, narrow, linear to oblonj^, lance-shaped, 

 blunt or more or less acute. The leaves are vertical 

 in sunlight. The stipules are eg^g^-shaped, acute. 

 The flowers are solitary, large, crimson or pink 

 (hence sangtiineum). The petals are long, in- 

 versely heart-shaped, with bearded claws. The 

 sepals are spreading, oblong, blunt, awned. The 

 flower-stalks are long. The carpels are smooth, 

 crowned with few bristles. The seeds are dotted, 

 wrinkled. The .inther-stalks are swollen below. 

 The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in July and 

 .'\ugusl, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Sea Stork's Bill (Erodium maritimum, L'Her.). 

 — The habitat of this plant is bare places near the 

 coast, sandy and gravelly. The habit is prostrate. 

 The stem is slightly hairy, the hairs soft and 

 glandular. The leaves are simple, egg-shaped, 

 oblong- or heart-shaped, shortly-stalked, lobed, 

 not cut deeply into segments, scalloped. The 

 stipules are egg-shaped. The flowers are pale- 

 pink, sometimes apetalous, or with very small 

 petals, 1-2 on each stalk. The carpels are hairy, 

 with a transverse straight, deep furrow below the 

 deep semicircular pit near the apex. The anther- 

 stalks are entire. The plant is 4-18 in. long, 

 flowering between May and September, and is a 

 herbaceous biennial or perennial. 



Order Legiminos.« 



Annual Rest Harrowr (Ononis reclinata, L.) — 

 .•\nnual Rest Harrow is found in short turf near 

 the coast, sandy places, sea cliffs. The habit is 

 prostrate, or ascending. The plant is spread- 

 ing, hairy, clammy, branched. The leaflets are 

 inversely egg-shaped, wedge-shaped, acutely 

 toothed at the tip. The stipules are large, half- 

 egg-shaped. The flower-stalks are i-flowered, 

 slender, jointed below the flower, shorter than the 

 leaves, the flowers or pod bractless. The flowers 

 are rose-colour in the axils. The corolla is as long 

 as the calyx. The pod is glandular, hairy, as 

 long as, or longer than, the calyx, cylindrical, 

 oblong, bent back (hence reclinata). The seeds 

 are 14-18, tuberculate. The plant is 1-6 in. high, 

 flowering from May to July, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Seaside C\ovct {Trifolium 7naritimum, Huds. = 

 T. squamosum, L.). — The habitat of this plant is 

 muddy salt marshes, stiff soil near the coast, 

 ballast hills. The habit is prostrate, then ascend- 

 ing, spreading. The stem is rigid, nearly erect, 

 the plant downy. The leaflets are oblong, in- 

 versely egg-shaped, blunt or acute, nearly entire. 

 The stipules are broadly awl-like, linear, very 

 long, spreading, herbaceous. The he<ids are 

 egg-shaped to rounded, terminal, lengthening in 

 fruit, shortly-stalked, with opposite leaves below. 

 The calyx is strongly veined, the teeth awl-like, 

 fringed with hairs at first, erect, not so long as 



the corolla, afterwards broad, le.aflike, spreading, 

 .acute, herb.iceous, the 4 upper shorter than the 

 ribbed tube, the lower longest and 3-veined, the 

 tube hairy above, inversely conical in fruit. The 

 flowers are small, pale-red. The pod is 2-valved. 

 The plant is (>-i8 inches in height, flowering be- 

 tween May and August, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Buried Clover (TrifoUum suffocatum, Linn.). 

 — The habitat ot this plant is s.indy and gravelly 

 places, and it is sublittoral, found on sandy sea- 

 shores. The plant is prostrate in habit, smooth, 

 with short, slender, spreading stems, buried in the 

 sand in circular tufts (hence "buried"), with in- 

 versely heart-shaped leaflets on long leaf-stalks, 

 the leaf-like organs egg-shaped, with a long point. 

 The flowers are white, small, with a standard 

 (which does not fall) with a membranous border, 

 the teeth of the calyx bent back and lance-shaped, 

 longer than the corolla, membranous. The plant 

 is 1-3 inches in length, and flowers in June and 

 July, being ,-iiinual. 



Upright Trefoil {TrifoUum striatum, L.). — The 

 habilat of this Trefoil is gra.ssy places near the 

 sea. The habit is erect or ascending. The stems 

 are few, hairless, branched. The leaflets are 

 toothed, with slender nerves, linear to lance- 

 shaped, the upper oblong. The leafstalks are 

 very short. The stipules are broadly egg-shaped, 

 acute, toothed. The heads are terminal and 

 axillary, broad, round, the flower-stalks short, 

 rigid, longer than the leaves. The flowers are 

 rose-purple, the corolla longer than the caly.x. 

 The calyx is stalkless, 13-veined, the tube bell- 

 shaped, the teeth unequal, awl-like, spinose, 

 spreading in fruit. The pods are obliquely rounded, 

 flattened at the margin, beaked, the dorsal entire, 

 thickened, projecting. The 1-2 seeds are egg- 

 shaped, with a rather prominent radicle. The 

 plant is 2-6 in. high, flowering in June and July, 

 and is a herbaceous annual. 



Slender Bird's Foot (Lotus angustissimus, L.). 

 — The habitat of this species is dry banks near 

 the .sea. The habit is prostrate, then a.scending. 

 The stem is not wavy, and very hairy, dark-green, 

 very slender. The leaflets and stipules are lance- 

 shaped, acute, the former elliptic or blunt. The 

 flowers are 1-2 on short flower-stalks, shorter 

 than the leaves. The standard is broader than 

 long, the claw linear, not so long as the wings, 

 turning green. The fruit-stalk is twice as long. 

 The calyx teeth are straight in bud, awl-like. 

 The pods are 6 times as long as the calyx, linear. 

 The seeds are rounded. The plant is 2-8 in. in 

 height. Flowers may be found between June 

 and August, and the plant is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Hairy Annual Lotus (Lotus hispidus, Desf.). — 

 The habil.'it of this species is dry b.anks near the 

 sea, sunny places, roadsides. The habit is pros- 

 trate, then ascending. The plant is loosely or 

 softly hairy. The stems are slender. The leaflets 

 are inversely egg-shaped, lance-sh.'iped, elliptic, 

 .acute. The stipules are half-heart-shaped. The 

 flowers are 3-4 on each stalk, the latter longer 



