282 GRASSY PASTURES NEAR THE SEA. 



a circle distant from the pistil. The distribution of the 

 British Helianthema is rather curious, from the scat- 

 tered localities in which the several kinds occur. In 

 Ireland there are only two species, one found but very 

 sparingly in the south-west of Cork, the other confined 

 to the Isle of Arran, on the Galway coast. In steep 

 places by the sea, and especially on mural cliffs, the 

 Tree-mallow (Lavatera arborea) is abundant in many 

 places. This is the most woody of the British Mallows, 

 forming an arborescent bush, six or eight feet high. 

 Biit, notwithstanding its woody character it is only a 

 biennial, and perishes after having once ripened fruit. 

 The Tamarisk (Tamarix), though not common in a wild 

 state, is well-known in gardens. It naturally grows by 

 the sea-side, and is by much the most shrubby of the 

 British coast-plants. Its long sprayey branches, clothed 

 with minute leaves, and bearing late in autumn dense 

 clusters of flesh-coloured flowers, are singularly elegant, 

 as they wave to and fro in the breeze. We have but 

 one native species; but several others are found on the 

 sea-shores of Europe and Asia, and some characteristic 

 districts in the steppes of Tartary, where these thin, 

 twiggy shrubs alone relieve the widely-spread desolation 

 and barrenness. 



Grassy pastures near the sea are sometimes well-stored 

 with small bulbous plants, which dot them over with 

 flowers, bright in their brief season. Early in spring 

 the Vernal Squill (Sdlla vernd), and late in autumn the 

 Autumnal (S. autumnalis), open their fairy stars of blue, 

 on tiny scapes, an inch or two in height. These are 

 common to many of our coasts. Another minute bulb 



