98 FRANKENIACE^ 



leaf of the salt-marsh club-rush (Sclqnis mariUmiis) seemed well to defend 

 the brown bristly clusters which grew at the top of its tall stem ; while the 

 less frequent, but dark and glossy clusters of the great sharp sea-rush 

 (Juncus acutus), stood up in leafless hardihood, among the barren scapes which 

 looked like leaves. A carpet of flowers was at our feet, for the thrift, with 

 its pink tufted blossoms whitening with age, stood above the thousands of 

 lilac starry flowers which studded the slender branches of the sandwort 

 (Arendria marina), and almost hid from view the little pale pink blooms 

 which still stood here and there on the spreading branches of the sea milk- 

 wort, and which a month or two earlier had doubtless grown there in great 

 multitudes. 



On the sand, the branches of the sea purslane {Honchenya peploides) spread 

 flowerless, but clothed with their four-ranked leaves ; and branches of pale- 

 green prickly foliage grew in clumps, to remind us that in earlier months 

 the yellow-horned poppy had waved there its golden petals to the wind. 

 The sea-holly {Eryngium marUimum), with its beautiful sea-green richly 

 veined leaves, seemed so clad with prickles that we could scarcely venture 

 to touch it ; while its scaly head had almost lost all the blue tint of the 

 florets which a short time since had enlivened its pale green. The tall star- 

 wort {Aster tripolium) yet bore its lilac rays around its golden disk, and, 

 though not abundant, Avas still the most showy plant of the marsh. We trod 

 every moment on some succulent bright-green stem of the jointed glasswort 

 {Salicornia herbdcea), whose pale-green flowers had perished long ago, but 

 whose clear and bright stems looked almost like green-coloured glass tubes ; 

 while at every footstep we crushed some of the pale whitish-green sprays of 

 the sea southernwood (Artemisia maritima), and walked on amid continual 

 aroma diffused from the bruised plant. The little sprays of this southern- 

 wood, scarcely more than a foot high, were yet in such abundance that they 

 gave a white tint to many a spot on which they grew, and, looked at singly, 

 reminded one by their form, though not by their hue, of a miniature fir-tree. 

 Then there were species of sea orache, some of them with leaves and flowers 

 tinged with redness ; but the most common kind there was the sea-side 

 species (A triplex marina), with its pale narrow leaves, and large flat seed- 

 vessels ; and here and there a clump of the sharp and spiny leaves which 

 grew on the angled and rough stems of the saltwort {Salsdla kdli), which, 

 though its greenish flowers were gone, still showed the three sharp-looking 

 leaf-like bracts which had formerly grown at their bases. 



We had wandered for a mile over this singular scene, now listening to the 

 screams of the sea-bird over the waters, or to the soft murmurs of the waves 

 which fell gently over the shelly margin, when all at once we came to some 

 dark sprays, looking so like the branches of Heath, that we knew in an 

 instant that the long-looked-for plant was found. The narrow, almost thread- 

 like leaves were crowded on the branches, and there among them grew the 

 pretty little pink campion-like flowers, so small that the half of a split pea 

 might cover one of them, but very elegant in their form, and of a delicate 

 rose-coloured hue. The blossom is nearly allied to the pink and campion tribe ; 

 and on pulling out the petals, we find them clawed like those of the pink, 

 though the general structure of the plant is very different. The leaves are 



