VEGETATION OF BLAKENEY POINT. 29 



the bank ; and the " high elbow " which occupies the top of 

 the sharp bend or L-shaped termination of each lateral. 



There are seven such banks on the Marams area (Fig. l) 

 which are of importance (one other which exists (No. 2) has no 

 bearing in this connection), 11 separated from one another by salt 

 marshes of varying width ; they will be referred to in the 

 following account by numbers, the eighth or youngest (on 

 which the Watch House stands, Fig. 1, W.H.) being that 

 nearest The Headland, and forming a boundary to that end of 

 the series of salt marshes. The first or oldest has marshes on 

 both sides, but between it and the junction of the pebble beach 

 with the mainland, no other laterals occur. Still younger 

 hooks are found nearer the Headland, and one of these will be 

 dealt with in the sequel. 



Of these seven banks two call for special comment before we 

 embark on a generalised description of the flora. The eighth bank 

 bears towards its distal extremity a Coast-guard Watch House, 

 and is consequently subject to considerable human influence, 

 and perhaps the much more extensive flora which it possesses 

 as compared with the others is largely accounted for by ihis 

 factor. The other bank which exhibits special features is the 

 fifth in order ; it arises as a branch from the base of number 

 six, and is peculiar in that it is so broad and flattened that it 

 may be regarded floristically as being devoid of ai^y crest or 

 high elbow such as we find in the remaining five. 

 The Vegetation Zones of the Hooks. 



Passing from the lower edge of one of these banks on to 

 the high elbow, five principal zones can be recognised, which, 

 taken in order of their ascent, are : 1. The Suaeda fruticosa 

 zone. 2. The Festuca rubra zone. 3. The Statice binervosa 

 zone. 4. The Crest or Agrostis maritima zone, and lastly, 

 5. The High Elbow. (Fig. 10.) 

 (1.) The Suceda Zone. 



The Suaeda zone proper is a dense belt of bushes some two 

 feet in height and of varying width, which occupies the lower 



11. Strictly speaking several of these banks are compound in origin, but for 

 convenience eacli complex is treated as a unit. 



