284 BRITISH PLANTS 
during storms may be washed with spray approximates 
very closely to that of a salt-marsh. Indeed, many plants 
are common to both. As in the salt-marsh, succulence is 
a very common character. The plants usually grow on. 
ledges where the soil is thin and water scarce, whilst the 
light is often as intense and the exposure as great as on a 
sand-dune. 
The most frequent plants met with in this situation 
are: Crithmum maritimum (samphire), Inula crithmoides 
(golden samphire), Statice auwriculefolia (sea-lavender), 
Armeria maritima (sea-pink, thrift), Plantago maritima, 
P. Coronopus, Cochlearia danica, Sagina maritima (sea- 
spurrey), Spergularia rupestris, Sedum anglicum, and 
Asplenium marinum (sea-spleenwort). Of rarer plants, 
Cotoneaster vulgaris grows only on Great Orme’s Head, 
Peonia corallina on Steep Holme off the coast of Somer- 
set. Matthiola incana (sea-stock) in the Isle of Wight and 
at Ramsgate, Brassica oleracea (the wild type from which 
the cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc., have been 
derived) in a few places on the south coast of England, 
Lavatera arborea (tree-mallow) chiefly on the south and 
west coasts of England and Ireland, Ligusticum scoticum 
(lovage) confined to the coast of Scotland, North-East 
England, and North Ireland. 
5. Exposed Slopes facing the Sea.—On the wind-swept 
cliff-tops and slopes facing the sea the vegetation is 
greatly affected by the strong drying winds. Pasture- 
land usually covers the slopes, but the grasses are dwarfed 
and seldom flower. Any plant which rises above the 
level of the grass is cut down by the wind and destroyed. 
Consequently the plants which do persist must be as 
short as the grass. Plants which are 1 to 3 feet high in 
sheltered spots are reduced to 1 or 2 inches, or even less, 
on the wind-swept slopes. The flowers are not altered 
conspicuously in size, but they are considerably reduced in 
number, and hidden on minute stalks in a little nest of 
leaves. On the more exposed parts of Beachy Head the 
following plants are thus dwarfed, the figures in brackets 
indicating the height of the plants in more favourable 
situations : Phyteuma orbiculare (4 to 18 inches), Erythrea 
Centaurium (6 to 18 inches), Scabiosa Columbaria (1 to 
2 feet), Echium vulgare (1 to 3 feet), Centaurea nigra 
(4 to 3 feet), Carduus acaulis (3 to 12 inches), Luphrasia 
