208 KENTISH BOTANY. \July, 



Lysimachia vulgaris was very luxuriant, and so was Menyanthes 

 trifoliata, of course long past flowering. The other plants ob- 

 served were Valeriana dioica, Sparganium simplex, and Triglo- 

 chin palustre, with others of less note. This was a pretty fair 

 amount of work done before breakfast. 



After refreshment we started for Pegwell Bay, celebrated 

 among gastronomical enthusiasts for its shrimps and shrimp 

 saucCj brown bread and fresh butter, etc. We saw no specimens 

 of either fish or sauce, but we saw what pleased us much more, 

 viz. myriads of Medicago minima and Trifolium scabrum. The 

 herbage of the gravelly parts of these flats is chiefly composed of 

 these pigmy Leguminifers, with abundance of Phleum arenarium 

 and Erigeron acris intermixed. In lower and moister places 

 appeared Erythr(Ba pulchella, varying from a couple of inches to 

 a foot in height ; also Samolus Valerandi and Spergula nodosa. 



Nearer the river appeared Artemisia maritima, with a variety 

 which does not agree with A. gallica found on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean ; also Suada (Schoberia) maritima, if this be its 

 now current name. (In books it has at least as many aliases as 

 au Old Bailey bird, or a grandee of the highest rank in Spain.) 

 Statice Armeria, Glaux maritima, Atriplex portulacoides, Triglo- 

 chin maritimum, and CEnanthe Lachenalii* abounded. 



This latter plant is found plentifully dispersed over miles of 

 these salt-marshes. Psamma arenaria and Medicago denticulata 

 of the Rev. G. E. Smith, abounded on the drier parts, while many 

 acres of mud-flats were covered with Salicornia herbacea. In 

 Norfolk, land is worth fencing ofi" from the sea, when this plant 

 grows on the muddy shores. 



After reaching the mouth of the river which flows into Pegwell 

 Bay, we turned back towards Sandwich, in order to go along the 

 seashore to Deal, and as we did not want to go through the 

 town, we ferried across the river, and directed our course toward 

 the houses of the coastguard on the sand-hills, which here form 

 a natural sea-wall. 



* This species, the name of which only is one of our recent acquisitions, has 

 usually a preference for maritime locaUties ; yet we have received specimens from 

 near Ross, at least forty miles from the sea and twenty from a tidal river. 



In the Kentish locality it varies in size from a few inches to a yard in height. 

 We have examples from the Ross station, of the dwarf state of the plant, where its 

 small stature is not so easily accounted for, as on the sandy beach of Pegwell Bay, 

 where its stunted growth is attributable to the sandy soU where it grows. 



