30 CBFCIFEB.E. 



adorning the coast near Looe, in Cornwall. The situation is 

 very much exposed, commanding a wide prospect of sea and 

 coast ; and, if ever little plant needed its warm coat of hairs, 

 this modest little Cornishman required his. It is a curious 

 fact that the more cold and bleak the situation, the more hairy 

 does the vegetation become ; while, if the same plants are re- 

 moved to a sheltered locality, they gradually become smoother 

 a wonderful example of the providential adaptation of every 

 atom in the machinery of creation. 



JN"ear the Lizard Point Fanny found the English Scurvy 

 Grass (Cochlearia anglica, Plate III., fig. 1), growing on rocks 

 from which issued tiny streams, supplying the plant with 

 moisture enough to nourish its succulent leaves and stem. 

 This plant grows on all our coasts and on the banks of our salt 

 rivers, its purple-lined leaves and clusters of pure white flowers 

 forming a very pretty object. In this family the petals are no 

 longer insignificant as in the Pepperworts, but of some size and 

 of brilliant whiteness. The leaf of the one in question is ovate, 

 stalked when arising from the root, but seated on the stem. 



The Danish and Greenland Scurvy Grasses are also found 

 occasionally on our shores, but are more abundant in the lands 

 from which they take their respective names. 



The Common Scurvy Grass (C. omcinalis), is abundant on the 

 banks of streams, inland as well as seaward. It grows in great 

 luxuriance on the banks of the Swale, making patches among 

 the sward of such brilliant whiteness as to rival a flower-bed in 

 an Italian garden. Its leaves are roundish, and its pouch of 

 the same form, not veined as in the English Scurvy Grass. 



The Horseradish belongs to this family ; but though called 

 wild, I must confess that whenever I have found it there were 

 strong grounds for believing it to have been thrown out from a 

 garden. While the foliage is the part used in the other Scurvy 

 Grasses, the root is the edible portion of this member of the 

 family, and we are all familiar with it in its scraped form as an 

 adjunct to roast beef. 



