SEA BUCKTHORN 203 



its prickly nature, and because it was used for the manufacture of 

 barilla for glass-making. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



266. Salsola Kali, L. Stem prostrate, branched, leaves rough, 

 spinous, subulate, with prickles at the extremity, flowers axillary, with 

 3 bracts at the base. 



Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides, L.) 



Local and confined to the sea margin this plant is apparently not 

 represented in any early deposits in Great Britain, but is recorded from 

 the Oak Zone in Gothland. It is found in the N. Temperate Zone in 

 Europe, N. and Central Asia, as far east as the Himalayas. 



In Great Britain it is found in W. Cornwall, E. Kent, E. Suffolk, 

 E. and W. Norfolk, Anglesea, N. Lines, S.E. Yorks, N.E. Yorks, 

 Dumfries, Wigtown, Ayr, Renfrew, Forfar, N. Aberdeen, Main 

 Argyll, W. Ross, or from York to Kent and Sussex. It is common 

 and only naturalized in Scotland and Ireland. 



This is one of the peculiarly characteristic maritime species growing 

 on sandy shores, where it is a salt-lover and a dry-soil type. It forms 

 a natural defence by helping to bind the sand together. Doubtless 

 this reason has caused it to be planted in some spots where it was not 

 formerly present. 



This is a compact prickly shrub, which is much branched and 

 generally erect. The leaves are linear lance-shaped, silvery, with a 

 furrow in the centre ; limp, alternate, dullish green above. After 

 flowering they elongate. There are red scales on the underside of 

 the leaf. 



Sea Buckthorn is a dioecious plant, with axillary minute male 

 flowers in clusters, the sepals broadly oblong. The flowers appear 

 with the young leaves. The female flowers are solitary. The fruit is 

 a berry, orange, enclosed in the calyx, membranous, with oblong seeds. 



The plant is 1-8 ft. high. It flowers in May. The Sea Buckthorn 

 is a shrub. 



The plant is dioecious, the male flowers minute in axillary clusters, 

 the female solitary. The filaments are short and the anthers yellow. 

 The flowers are pollinated by the wind. The bracteoles form a hood 

 over the male flowers to protect them from the rain, separating when 

 it is dry, allowing pollen to be blown away by the wind. 



The utricle is orange-red when ripe, and probably principally dis- 

 persed by birds. 



