PURPLE SANDWORT. 35 



of its tufted branches ; and there also, they 

 can sip a pure nectarious liquor from out the 

 fountain of its star-like flowers, for the foun- 

 tain, although its secret stream rises from off 

 a deleterious surface, is offered pure to them. 

 Another of the tribe points out the vicinity 

 of salt streams, and thrives only in an at- 

 mosphere filled with saline particles ; where 

 seeds in general cannot vegetate, and where 

 even forest trees are unable to establish 

 themselves : there also it affords, no doubt, 

 both food and shelter to a variety of insects, 

 either winged or creeping, and which, Hke 

 the plant on which they feed, can live only 

 in places where salt abounds. The plantain- 

 leaved is placed by its Creator in woods 

 and wet hedges ; the thyme -leaved grows 

 only on the roofs of houses, on walls, and in 

 sandy and dry places ; the media is seen 

 neither at a distance from the sea, nor yet 

 in places where the dashing of the waves is 



