Seasides and Strand Plants 



These tufts are still separated by intervals of bare 

 sand, but as soon as the dune ceases to move percep- 

 tibly other plants begin to appear. 



Just behind the crest one finds the sea-holly, 

 Eryngium, which has a complicated, auger-like bud well 

 fitted to bore its way through the sand. Bird's-foot 

 trefoil and Festuca ovina are also very common. Then 

 numerous others begin to settle between them ; small 

 mosses and lichens, many flowering plants and grasses 

 gradually close up the intervals, which changes to the 

 short, springy turf which is probably responsible for golf.* 



The bent-grass (Psamma) is widely distributed in 

 the North Temperate hemisphere. In New Zealand 

 (South Island) Mr. Cockayne finds quite a different 

 grass (Desmoschcenus spiralis), which nevertheless is a 

 sand-dune specialist, and acts in almost the same way. 

 Another grass, Spinifex, colonises the sand-dunes in Java. 9 



On certain small sand-dunes at San Vicente near 

 Concepcion in Chile, the author found yet another 

 grass (Poa bonariensis, Kunth), which also managed to 

 grow up through the sand, and binds the dunes 

 together with a network of rhizomes. 



On the crests of these sandhills, Euphorbia chilensis, 

 Astragalus sp. ; and other specially adapted plants 

 assisted to bind down the sand. The flora was ex- 

 ceedingly pretty, for many little slender convolvulus- 

 like flowers, some 2 inches long (Nierembergia 

 repens), Sisyrhinchium, and two beautiful Alstrcemerias 

 were dotted about the surface. As the settlement 

 becomes closer, one finds Lagurus ovatus (hare's-tail 

 grass), Godetias, Phacelias, and other common Chilian 

 weeds. Then small woody shrublets, spiny bushes of 



* On the grey dunes of the Baltic, Aira canescens, A. flexuosa, Helichrysum 

 arenarium, Galium mollugo, Hieracium umbellatum, and Artemisia campestris 

 are said to be characteristic. <* 



166 



