1 8o FLOWERS OF THE SEA-COAST 



alternate. The capsule is rounded, the seeds are inversely egg-shaped, 

 large, and not numerous. 



The height of this plant rarely exceeds 3 in. It is in flower from 

 May till August. The perennial stems can be propagated by division. 



The flowers are polygamous. The disk is glandular. There are 

 3-5 styles, and the flower is able to self-pollinate itself in the absence 

 of insects, which do not visit it commonly, the species being a mari- 

 time with inconspicuous flowers. 



The seeds are dispersed by the agency of the plant's own mechan- 

 ism. The capsules break up along the valves when ripe and allow the 

 small seeds to fall around the parent plant, which is usually found 

 to grow in scattered clumps. 



A fungus, Cystopus lepigoni, attacks Arenaria. 



Heliothis peliiger (the Bordered Straw Moth) feeds on species of 

 Arenaria also, and the beetles MalacJmis marginellus and Cassida 

 nobilis. 



Sea Purslane is a sand-lover and requires a sand soil, and as a 

 salt-lover saline soil. 



Arenaria, Linnaeus, is derived from the Latin arena, sand, and 

 peploides is from its resemblance to peplion, a purslane. 



The Sea Purslane is called Sea Chickweed and Sea Sandwort. 



It was thought to inspire love. Formerly it was occasionally 

 pickled, like samphire, for which its fleshy foliage is suited. It was 

 fermented in Ireland, and eaten as sauerkraut is in Germany. 



The flower is very variable in the number of the stamens, a feature 

 of the group. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



57. Arenaria peploides, L. Stem fleshy, creeping, forked, leaves 

 in 4 rows, ovate, sessile, smooth, dark-green, flowers small, white, 

 petals obovate, exceeding the sepals, from the angles of the stem. 



Tamarisk (Tamarix gallica, L.) 



This shrub has never been found fossil, but, even if it were native, 

 it is unlikely that it will be preserved, as it rarely produces seed now 

 in this country. The Northern Temperate Zone is its home, and it 

 is found on the shores of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and inland 

 in Western Asia as far east as N.W. India. In the south and east 

 of England it is an alien, being in all cases planted. 



The Tamarisk is an evergreen shrub which is now one of the 

 familiar members of the coastal flora (hence its inclusion in this work), 



