74 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT. 



polystachyon ; the white brookweed, Samolus Valerandi ; the 



Viola palustris, and the Blysntus compressus. 

 More or less generally diffused over the sandhills, the 

 observant eye will catch sight also of the following 

 plants : 



Seaside Catstail-grass ( Phleum arenarium). 



Spring Hair-grass (Aira prczcox). 



Seaside Fescue-grass (Festuca uniglumis). 



Seaside Wheat-grass (Triticum junceum), a large form, it 

 would appear (changed also in complexion by the con- 

 ditions of its place of growth), of the common couch- 

 grass (Triticum repens) ; and in that case supplying a 

 beautiful example of the versatility of Nature, especially 

 when with such instruments in hand as are supplied by 

 the margin of the sea. 



Sweet Yellow Galium, or " Yellow Bedstraw " (Galium 

 verum), a very delicate and elegant little plant, the dark- 

 green leaves as slender as needles, about an inch in 

 length, and spreading from the stem in little circles of 

 rays ; the minute flowers in loose light tufts, golden 

 yellow, conspicuous from their abundance, and honey- 

 scented The Sweet Yellow Galium is the original 

 "Maiden-hair," the name implying a fancied resemblance 

 to the unsnooded locks of girls in the times when light- 

 hued hair was very specially admired, and given by the 

 poets to their heroines, as in Chaucer : 



Her yellow hair was broidered in a tresse. 



Buck's-horn Plantain (Plantago Coronopus). 

 Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella). 



