Floras of Great Britain and Central Europe 95 
Coast FORMATIONS. 
The coast formations naturally formed a very attractive feature 
in our studies in Great Britain, especially as the chapter (XIV) of 
’ dealing with them, and also Professor F. W. Oliver's 
special explanations and lists of flora relating to Blakeney on the 
“ Types’ 
coast of Norfolk, formed an excellent preparation for their examina- 
tion. But the comparison with the German flora can be very 
briefly dismissed, since Germany possesses very little of interest 
in comparison with Great Britain, and the arrangement of the 
formations on the flat sandy beach of the German coast of the 
North Sea is poor and monotonous compared with the magnificent 
alternations of rocky coast, shingle-banks and extended salt-marshes 
and sand-dunes with the dune hollows behind the main dunes, 
where Salix repens, just as in Belgium, plays such a noteworthy 
part in the association. So far as my knowledge extends, the 
German Baltic coast possesses only one or two species of interest 
which are absent from Britain, e.g., Linaria odora. The magnificent 
structure of the formations on flat or steep rocky coasts, as we saw 
it on the coast of Cornwall, with the stations of Crithmum maritimum, 
has its only German analogue in Heligoland. Such interesting 
plants as Crambe maritima, which ranges from the east coast of 
Ireland and from Cornwall to the Scottish west coast (56°N.) are 
only found as rarities in Holstein, Mecklenburg and Riigen. Brassica 
oleracea, which grows apparently wild on the Heligoland cliffs, is 
claimed with equal right as wild from Cornwall to Carnarvon. 
Further, England has many species, e.g., Euphorbia Paralias and 
portlandica, which do not occur at all on the German coasts, and 
also species such as Su@eda fruticosa which exhibit plant-forms 
uncommon on the coasts of northern Europe. Even the meadow- 
like damp dune flats, which exist in the East Frisian islands, are 
fuller of flowers and of species in England. 
Much is still left to say of the remarkable plants and their 
ecological relations shown to us by our kindly leaders, and of the 
points which struck us as visitors accustomed to formations of 
similar structure but of quite different floristic composition. But 
these remarks might easily grow into a small book and the most 
important points of the comparison fall into the background. 
Enough has been written to show how stimulating was this “1.P.E.” 
Under its flag, which Tansley untiringly held aloft, we spent 
