184 



ii.()\vi:rs oi' 'mi-: sj-.a-coast 



Sea Holly (I'lrynL^ium niarilinuim, 1..) 



TIk' ilislril)Ulii>n ol Sci 1 lolly lo-(l;i\- (as far as our knowledge t^oes) 

 is linillcil to ihc Xorlh Temperate Zone in I':ur()[)e, and \. Atrica. 

 In Great iiritain it is absent from W Cst Sussex, Xorthumberland, 

 Wigtown, Berwick, as fir as Aberdeen, aiul X. I'Lbudes, occurring on 

 the coasts of other maritime counties, and to the north it is found in the 

 Orkneys and Hebrides. It is found throughout Ireland. 



A maritime species, addicted to a sand_\ habitat, on ihe shores of 



Ska Hoi.i.v [Eiynglu 



the British Isles, it is both a xerophyte or dry-soil type and a halophyte 

 or salt-lover. It grows with Sea Kale, Sea Rocket, Samphire. Thrift, 

 Sea Milkwort, and many^ other sand-loving species. 



The English name suggests one of its main characteristics, its 

 spinous character, like that of Holly, and its Thistle-like appearance. 

 The plant is l)luish-green in colour, and has stiffly hairy, spiny, leathery 

 leaves, the radical leaves being rounded and 3-lobed, with cartilaginous 

 margins, and folded. The stem is rigid, much-branched, with nume- 

 rous leaves, the upper leaves clasping the stem and the lobes starting 

 from a common centre. The plant has long thick roots. 



The fiowerheads, which are blue, are in heads with involucres, with 

 a whorl of stiff coloured bracts or leatlike organs below, spinous, longer 



