SALTWOBT BUCKWHEAT. 243 



ance of a starry corolla. The flowers are situated in tlie axils 

 of the leaves, which end in a sharp spine ; three bracts are 

 placed at the foot of the flower. This plant contains a large 

 proportion of soda; and Harvey tells us that the Eound-leaved 

 Saltwort (Salsola sativa), is largely cultivated in southern 

 .Europe, and furnishes the best soda used in this part of the 

 world. It is called Spanish soda. 



The poet considers our Little Saltwort (S. kali), an emblem 

 of humility : 



" The Saltwort's starry stalks are thickly sown, 

 Like humble worth, unheeded and unknown." 



The Glasswort family is the last in the Goosefoot tribe. 

 These plants have jointed fleshy stems and no leaves. The 

 flowers appear at the joints, and consist in a swelled undivided 

 calyx, one stamen, and one style. 



The common Glasswort (Salicornia herbacea, Plate XIV., 

 jig. 10), grows freely in the salt marshes at Clevedon, and is 

 sometimes pickled under the name of Samphire, which, how- 

 ever, it does not at all resemble, being bright green and leaf- 

 less. Cattle like the salt taste of this plant, and it is so bene- 

 ficial to them that they are often sent to a shore where it grows 

 to regain lost strength. Like the Saltwort, this plant is often 

 burned for the soda it contains, and is thus used in the manu- 

 facture of soap and glass. 



The Creeping Glasswort (S. radicans), Edward brought from 

 Sandgate, on the coast of Kent. It has a woody stem. 



There is also a Procumbent Glasswort (S. prociimbens), but 

 we have not got it. 



The BUCKWHEAT order comes next. Its members are not very 

 attractive, but they have at any rate an advantage over the 

 Goosefoots, both in this particular and in that of utility. Some 

 members of the Buckwheat tribe provide valuable medicine, as 

 Rhubarb and Bistort ; some afford food for man, as the stalks 

 of Rhubarb and the leaves of Sorrel, and still more the true 

 Buckwheat (Polygonum fagopyrum), which, though considered 



