CLOVE PINK TEIBE 125 



sea-side plants are more generally to be found about our shores than this. 

 Sometimes it hangs its branches down from a rocky crevice, giving a verdure 

 to the cliff, though, as we look up to its clumps, we cannot perceive the small 

 purple stars which are seated among its foliage. Sometimes our plant grows 

 among the timber lying in the boat-yard, near the sea, or hangs in climips 

 from between the stones of the harbour, on some high wall never washed by 

 the water ; but the spot on which this Sandwort attains its greatest luxuriance 

 is the salt-marsh, where, from June to September, it may be seen amid the 

 pale green stems of the sea-wormwood, and the deeper-tinted rosy tufts of 

 the thrift, its thousands of starry flowers, as large as silver pennies, by their 

 multitude giving a distinct hue to patches of the soil. These blossoms vary 

 from deep purple to delicate lilac, or white. A little later in the year, the 

 numerous seed-vessels are crushed by every footstep, as we wander over the 

 dreary, treeless, and almost flowerless marsh, when the wind sweeps through 

 the sea-reeds its melancholy accompaniment to the dashing waves. The 

 flowers of the Sea Sandwort, however, can be seen spangling the grass only 

 in the early part of the summer's day, for by four o'clock each blossom is 

 closed up from the dews which twilight brings ; by nine o'clock the next 

 morning, they Avill be all open again in their full loveliness, reminding us of 

 the pretty fancy of Linnaeus, who constructed a dial of such flowers as were 

 constant in their habits of opening and closing at certain hours. Charlotte 

 Smith has a beautiful little poem on such blossoms. 



" In every copse and shelter'd dell, " Broad o'er its imbricated cup 



Uuveil'd to the observant eye, The goatsbeard spreads its golden rays, 



Are faithful monitors which tell But shuts its cautious petals up, 



How pass the hours and seasons by. Retreating from the noontide blaze. 



"The green-robed children of .the spring " Among the loose and arid sands 



Will mark the period as they pass, The humble Arenaria creeps ; 



Mingle with leaves Time's feather'd wing, Slowly the purple star expands, 



And bind with flowers his silent glass. But soon within its calyx sleeps. 



"See Hieracium's various tribe "Thus in each flower and simple bell 



Of plumy seed and radiate flowers : That in our path untrodden lie, 



The course of time their blooms describe, Are mute remembrancers which tell 



And wake or sleep appointed hours. How fast the winged minutes fly. 



"Time will steal on with ceaseless pace, 

 Yet lose we not the fleeting hours, 

 Who still their fairy footsteps trace, 



As light they dance among the flowers." 



The Purple and Sea-side Sandworts are, by some botanists, placed in a 

 distinct genus, called Sjpergularia, from the resemblance to the Spurrey 

 {Spergula) ; this species being distinguished as Spergularia media. 



13. Mouse-ear Chickweed (Cerdsfium). 



'■^'' Petals not longer than the calyx. 



1. Common Mouse-ear Chickweed (C. trividle). — Stems haiiy, not 

 viscid ; leaves oblong, tapering ; flowers in panicles. Plant perennial. This 

 is a very common plant, though one which is little noticed by any but the 

 botanist. It would, however, if removed fi^om the road, or field, or pasture 



