272 



MARITIME VEGETATION. 



breakers are the relics of some storm which has roused 

 his strength a thousand miles away, and come to our 

 peaceful coasts, like the rejoicings after victory, to tell 

 of his power and majesty. 



The aspect of the coast is thus indefinitely varied. 

 There are, however, cha- 

 racters, which a natural- 

 ist will at once detect, 

 common to most sea- 

 shores. The vegetation, 

 in general, has not the 

 luxuriance which an in- 

 land situation affords. 

 The trees are of smaller 

 size, of slower growth, 

 and apt to be bent 

 by the prevalent winds, 

 or their tops shorn by 

 the salt air. On many 

 coasts, trees will not grow 

 beyond the shelter of 

 walls or rocks, and forest- 

 trees dwindle into stunt- 

 ed shrubs. Then there are 

 numerous plants which 

 are peculiar to the sea- 

 shore, and which are 

 never found far from the 



HORNED FOPFT. 



coast. I have already 



mentioned the Sea-reed (Ammophila arundinacea)-which 

 flourishes among drifting sands, and binds together the 



