MARITIME PLANTS. 163 



stained with purple; the beautiful little plant 

 called the Sea Milk-wort or Black Saltwort 

 (Glaux maritima), which bears flesh-coloured 

 flowers, and is found, not in salt marshes strictly 

 so called, but in muddy places along the shore, 

 and is very common in many parts of the coast ; 

 and the Sea Campion or Catchfly (Silene mari- 

 tima), with its*%iflated bladdery calyx, of a 

 purplish colour, beautifully reticulated, and its 

 white petals. 



There are two plants to which we would solicit 

 the reader's special attention, on account of the 

 remarkable evidence they afford of the effects 

 which may be produced on members of the vege- 

 table kingdom by cultivation. The first to be 

 noticed is the Sea Cabbage, (Brassica, oleracea). 

 This plant is from one to two feet in height ; the 

 leaves are glaucous, waved, lobed, and smooth; 

 the flowers are large and pale yellow ; the plant is 

 a biennial and grows on maritime cliffs, and is 

 very abundant along the chalky cliffs of the 

 English coast. Looking at this plant in its native 

 condition, no one could possibly imagine that by 

 the care and skill of the gardener, it could be 

 made in the course of time to assume the extraor- 

 dinary appearance of the ponderous drumhead 

 cabbage of the kitchen garden, or the character of 

 the cauliflower or brocoli. Yet such a metamor- 

 phosis is actually effected. In its natural state 

 the stem of the wild cabbage is slender and its 

 leaves are small. Under the influence of cultiva- 

 tion the stem becomes thick and fleshy, and the 



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