2 PHANEROGAMS AND FERNS OF SOUTH ARDGOIL. 
connects with Tom nan Gamhna (1250 feet) and the Steeple 
Hill, immediately behind Lochgoilhead. 
The whole of this area is strongly glaciated. Where the 
rounded bosses or rvoches moutonnées protrude there is little 
phanerogamic vegetation, but where the rocks have been 
subjected to weathering, or rock falls have produced broken 
rock, there is considerable variety of plant life. 
The geographical features thus briefly indicated give rise 
to considerable diversity in the natural habitats of plants, 
which may be differentiated as follows :— 
. The shore strip up to high water of spring tides. 
. The shore margin above spring tides. 
. The low level roads, pathways, and cultivated ground. 
. The woodlands. 
. The hillsides above the woodlands dominated by bracken, 
heather, rush, or grass. 
6. The allts—lower and upper. 
7. Crags and summits. 
8. The lochan. 
SHorE Strip.—The greater part of the shore belt consists 
of shelving rock or of stretches of beach with boulders. 
Near the mouths of the burns at Stuckbeg, Guanan, and 
Coilessan there are small delta formations with gravelly 
beaches, and where the River Goil enters Loch Goil a gently 
shelving shore of sand and mud has been formed similar to 
that at the head of all the sea lochs. The prevailing plants of 
the rocky strip are Armeria vulgaris and Plantago maritima, 
and of the gravel stretches Potentilla anserina. At Lochgoil- 
head the low tide level is marked by small fields of Zostera 
marina, var. angustifolia, and the high tide level by a sward 
of salt grass. Of the latter the main constituents are 
Glyceria maritima, Plantago maritima, Glaux maritima, Armeria 
vulgaris, Cochlearia officinalis, Triglochin maritimum, Juncus 
Gerardi, Aster Tripolium, and Festuca duriuscula. 
Near the mouth of the River Goil is a level part known as 
the Glebe, and marked on the Ordnance Survey map as the 
Saltings. It is level, occasionally flooded by very high tides 
and crossed by winding depressions, which mark old courses 
of the river. Salt water occasionally flows up these depres- 
sions, which show a strong development of Scirpus maritimus 
and Triglochin maritimum. The upper parts of the sward 
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