SAMiMiii-;!-: 185 



than the ht';uls. The scales in liir rtCL-ptaclu aiv ^-loolhcxl. Tlic 

 petals are narrow and deeply notched, turned down, and hel[) wlUi the 

 anther-stalks to close the (lower, thoir^^h the\ can ije |)ushed on one 

 side by an insect. 



Eighteen inches or two feet is the usual heiL^hl of the Sea llolU. 

 To tind the (lowers search the seaboard in July and .\uu;ust. I'cnnnial, 

 and increased by roots, the plant is well established in its habiiais. 



The flowers are small and inconspicuous, and not adapted (or insect 

 visits, like sonic other maritime species. The styles are threadlike and 

 erect, ami the i)elals are narrow and ha\c llic jioint turned in. whilst 

 the innbels are in \ery tlense heails. and are nioic liable in this w,i\ in 

 be self- than cross-pollinated. The anlhers ri|)cn first. Tin- honex is 

 secreted b\' a disk with 10 rays at the base, and is concealed. 



The achenes are flattened, and when ripe are aided in dispersal 

 by the wind or passing herds, being detached and jerked to a distance. 



Sea Holly is a salt-lover, and delights in a saline soil, and is abso 

 a sand plant, addicted to a sand soil. 



The Lepidoptera Silk\ Wainscot, Argyivlcpia mariiiiiia, Coiicliylis 

 fiaiicillaiia and the I)ing\ .Skipper 'J'haiiaos {Htspcria) fugi'S, and a 

 Heteropterous insect, Thcraplia I/yoscyami. feed on it. 



Eryugiitiii. Dioscoricles, is latinized from the dreek name of the 

 plant, and the second name (Latin) indicates its habitat. 



Sea Holly is called lu-ingo, Mr) iigo, -Sea Holly, .Sea Holme. .Sea 

 Hulver, Ringo-roots. 



The plant used to be employed as a love charm, and it was candied 

 and sold in Shakespeare's day as the " kissing comfits " of Falstaff In 

 Sweden the tops are all eaten like asparagus. It is held by the Arabs 

 to be a restorative, the chief virtue residing in the roots. 



EssKNTi.M, Spixikic Ch-vracteks: — 



122. Eryiigium maritimiim, L. — Root flesh\-. large, stem rigid, 

 glaucous, leaves spinous, clasping, leathery, palmate. in\olucral leaves 

 3-lobed, flowers blue, in a dense head, w ith a whorl of bracts. 



Samphire (Crithmum maritimum. L.) 



The coasts of P'urope to the south of I*" ranee, and those of X. 

 Africa, or the Temperate Zone, mark the present dislrilxition of this 

 plant, which is unknown in earlier times. It is found in Great Hritain 

 throughout the whole Peninsular province, ami the South coast, on 

 the East coast only in E. .Suffolk, on the entiri! Welsh coast except 

 Denbigh and Flint, throughout the Lakes province, in Kirkcudbright, 



