PLUMBAGO FAMILY 



(Plumbaginaceae) 



Usually herbaceous plants of the sea coast, with mostly basal 

 tufted leaves. Corolla of 5 long-clawed parts united at the 

 base or into a tube. Stamens opposite the corolla segments. 

 Calyx plaited between its lobes, and persistent. 



SEA PINK (Armeria vulgdris, Willd.). Flowers rose color 

 or white, individually small, but showy in compact, clustered 

 heads, with a sort of involucre beneath of chaffy bracts; on 

 naked stalks from 3 inches to a foot high or so. Leaves nar- 

 row, without distinction of blade and petiole, crowded at the 

 ground in dense tufts. Blooming in spring and early summer 

 on downs and bluffs along the seacoast from California to 

 Alaska. 



The Sea Pink is native to the Old World as well as ours, and 

 has long been a favorite in old-fashioned gardens under the 

 name of Thrift. That has nothing to do with frugality, how- 

 ever, but is merely the survival of an old meaning of a partici- 

 pial form of thrive, and signifies "clustered," an allusion to the 

 plant's growing in tufts. 



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