COMMON TimilT.—Siaiice Armeria. 



Class Pextandria. Order Pentagtxia. Nat. Ord. PLUMBAGI^"E^, 

 Thrift Tribe. 



The salt marsli, covered with its short grasses 

 and maritime plants, is usually a treeless dreary 

 waste. Yet a few flowers spring up there, as 

 if to remind us that there is no spot on this 

 wide world on which the Great Creator has not 

 scattered some object of interest or beauty; 

 just as there is no human life so sad, but that 

 some joy can find room to grow. Large 

 patches of the Thrift may be seen from afar on 

 the marsh, sometimes brightening it into a 

 deep rose-colour, but more often giving it a 

 pale pink or lilac hue. The flowers appear 

 from June to August, forming round heads of 

 blossoms, interspersed with chafly scales, and 

 growing on downy stalks to the height of four 

 or five inches. The summit of the flower-stalk 

 is cased in a brown meiftbranous sheath, and 

 the slender leaves all proceed from the roots. 



This plant is called also Sea Gilhflower, and 

 our old writers term it Ladies' Cushions, while 

 it is known in France as the Gazon (T Esjjagne, 

 It is well named Thrift, for it will thrive in 

 spots where little nutriment is aff'orded by the 



