GOOSEFOOT TEIBE 97 



Salicorne, and in Denmark, Salturt. The French also term it Crestemarine ; 

 and people living near our salt marshes generally call it Samphire. It is 

 gathered, Avhile in flower, and pickled like the true Samphire, to which, 

 hoAvever, it is very inferior. Our native species, like the other succulent 

 sea-side plants, have a saline juicy flavour. They are much relished by 

 cattle, and comljine with the sea-air to invigorate them greatly. The salt 

 plants in some parts of Australia are very numerous, and are of great value 

 to the farmers. Sir J. L. Mitchell, referring to the highlands near Sydney, 

 says, "On the salt plains in these places Nature amply provides for this 

 taste of the large herbivorous animals for salt. Our sheep nibbled at the 

 mesembryanthemums, and the cattle ate greedily of various bushes whose 

 leaves were salt to the taste. The colour of the leaves of such bushes was 

 generally of a light bluish-green, and there were several species. That with 

 the largest leaves was called by Dr. Brown Salt-bush. It was the PJiagodia 

 jMraholica." When the salt was removed from this plant, the latter proved 

 to be a very useful vegetable food for man. This was accidentally discovered 

 in tte course of some experiments instituted by Mr. Stephenson for ascertain- 

 ing the proportion of salt contained in the foliage. It was then found that 

 the leaves after twice boiling yielded as much as a twentieth part of salt, 

 nearly two ounces having been obtained from two pounds of leaves. Cattle 

 flourish exceedingly on land where this plant grows. 



Our Glasswort is sometimes called Sea-grass, Crab-grass, or Frog-grass. 



2. Creeping Glasswort (>S'. radkans). — Stem wood}^, prostrate and 

 rooting ; joints compressed, scarcely thickened, notched at the top ; spikes 

 oblong, blunt ; perennial. This is a rare plant, inhabiting the muddy sea- 

 shore, and is found on some parts of the Norfolk, Sussex, and Kentish coasts, 

 flowering in August and September. It diff'ers from the last species in its 

 prostrate, rooting stem, in its broader seed, and also in its sessile spikes of 

 flowers. Mr. Babington remarks, that in the Jointed Glasswort the middle 

 flower of the three is always the highest, but in this species it is scarcely 

 higher than the others. 



5. Sea-Blite (Siueda). 



1. Shrubby Sea-Blite {S. fndir6m). — Stem erect, shrubby; leaves 

 semi-cylindrical, blunt ; styles 3 ; seeds smooth and shining, vertical ; biennial.' 

 This is a rare plant, inhabiting the south and east coasts of England. It has 

 a stem about three feet high, with many straight leafy branches, and axillary 

 green flowers, growing in small clusters from July to October. It has 

 been by various writers included in the genus Chenopodwm, Salsola or 

 Schoberia. 



2. Annual Sea-Blite (*S'. marifiiim). — Stem herbaceous; leaves acute, 

 semi cylindrical ; styles 2 ; seeds horizontal, reticulated ; annual. This is a 

 very common plant, much smaller than the foregoing, and often growing on 

 marshes as well as at the base of cliff's and sea-walls, and about boat-yards 

 near the sea. It has small greenish flowei's from July to October, either one 

 or two growing in the axils of the leaves, and two small acute bracts placed 

 beneath each. It is a succulent plant of a glaucous green hue, often much 

 tinted with red, and of a saltish flavour. The stem is usually about a foot 



III.— 13 



