APETAL.E 203 



shingle spit, and in the formation of laterals from the 

 main bank, as has been admirably shown by 

 Prof. F. W. Oliver, to whose memoirs on this area 

 the reader is referred. In the same district this 

 species invades the salt-marshes, which form a 

 peripheral zonation to the shingle beach community, 

 occupying a large part of the so-called Marams. 



Being shrubby in habit Sea Elite is a tall plant, 

 with a woody erect stem, and numerous, leafy, erect 

 branches. In some places it is of low and spreading 

 habit. The leaves are numerous, linear, blunt, 

 semi-cylindrical, rounded at the base and tip, 

 succulent, dotted with white. Being a halophyte the 

 plant is adapted to physiological drought. It is 

 hairless and more or less bluish-green. But when 

 grown inland plants from the coast which are dark 

 green become more glaucous, in spite of the absence 

 of halophytic conditions. 



The flowers are axillary, minute, solitary, or two- 

 to three-clustered, and nearly stalkless. There are 

 three styles, which exceed the perianth. The seeds 

 are black, shining, vertical, smooth. 



From 1-3 ft. is the height of the plant. It is in 

 flower between July and September, and is a shrubby 

 perennial. 



The flowers are minute, and are apparently in most 

 cases wind-polHnated. This is characteristic of 

 some other maritime plants. In other cases, since 

 insects are not abundant at the coast, self-pollination 

 is the general rule. 



