APETAL^ 221 



This group differs from the last in the erect, not 

 pendulous, ovule. 



Sea Buckthorn {Hippophce rhamnoides). 



Exactly why this plant is named Hippophae, derived 

 from two Greek words meaning horse and shine, is 

 not clear. It is possible that some other plant w^as 

 intended by Dioscorides, who applied this name. 

 Pliny says of the plant, " These plants would appear, 

 too, to be remarkably well adapted to the constitution 

 of the horse, as it can be for no other reason than 

 this that they have received their name." Hardoin, 

 however, thinks that the names hippophces and hippo- 

 phceston have another origin, and that they are 

 compounds of phaos, lustre, from the brilliance which 

 they are said to impart to cloths, and hippos in an 

 augmentative sense, meaning " great lustre." The 

 second Latin name refers to the resemblance of the 

 plant, though not very closely, to the Buckthorn. 



Being maritime this plant is found only in maritime 

 counties from York to Sussex, or on the east and 

 south coasts of England. In Scotland and Ireland 

 it is a naturalised plant. It is nowhere common 

 except locally. 



Of maritime type the habitat is sandy seashores, 

 stony and sandy places, and beds of rivers and 

 torrents in Central and Eastern Europe. It grows on 

 saline soil in the sand-dune formation in the Marram 

 Grass association and in fixed dune associations 

 forming a dense scrub. 



