30 
first case we may suppose that the tap-root pierces down to 
some substratum of moisture, whence the plant may obtain 
part of its nourishment; but in the latter the fibres often 
appear to be anchors by which the plant is prevented from 
being blown away—with which view, also, no doubt, the 
whole plant is frequently procumbent, or lying flat upon the 
ground to an extraordinary extent, so that sometimes we find 
many square feet of soil, if soil it deserves to be called, 
covered by a dense mat of vegetation formed by a single plant. 
Once more, several of these sea-side plants are marked by 
strong (often aromatic) flavours. Samphire, for example, has 
a flavour utterly unlike anything else, about which tastes differ, 
but of which I own to being very fond. The same is the 
case with Fennel, Asparagus, and Celery, all of which are 
found wild only on the sea-coasts—the first and last of them 
falling within our range. The Sea-Gromwell, which I have 
more than once mentioned, and which is the model of a sea- 
side plant, presenting in perfection all the characters I have 
mentioned, tastes strongly and unmistakeably of oysters. 
Indeed in Shetland, upon the stony shores of which, in Cola- 
firth Voe, I had the pleasure of finding it last year, it is called 
the Oyster-plant. I saw specimens of it more than six feet 
long, and in no part as much as two inches from the ground. 
With its thick mass of glaucous fleshy leaves and terminal 
many-flowered cymes of pale blue flowers, it is as striking 
a plant as I have ever seen. I very much wish I had the 
chance of shewing it to you to-day. That, however, is out of 
the question, so if you wish to see it you must go, as I did, to 
Shetland. There too you may chance to find the Norway 
Sand-Wort, Avenaria Norwegica, another, but very small, fleshy 
sea-side plant; one of the few surviving remnants of the 
Arctic Flora which once spread far and wide over our Nor- 
thern hill-sides, but which lingers only on the tops of our 
loftiest mountains, or on the extreme shores of our Northern- 
most islands. 
Such are the principal external characteristics of these 
sea-side plants, and I strongly recommend you not to take 
them for granted, but to verify them for yourselves upon such 
of these p'ants as you may come across. Many of them grow 
within the five mile radius, and therefore, all fairly under the 
investigation of our Society, and one fact learned or verified 
