96 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



hare's-foot trefoil, and various kinds of maritime 

 grasses. In several places the great yellow ragwort 

 was very conspicuous, and I also noticed plants of the 

 rose-coloured willow-herb and of the exquisite sky-blue 

 chicory. Strange to say, there was one clump of the 

 true samphire (Crithmum maritimum, L.) growing on 

 the shingle. This aromatic plant, which yields the well- 

 known condiment, is usually found on sea-cliffs, as at 

 Dover and at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, but in the 

 only two places where it is to be seen in Suffolk it 

 flourishes on the bare pebbly beach. So with the 

 reflexed stonecrop, usually associated with rocks, or 

 ancient ruins, as at Walberswick and Covehithe, but in 

 several places along the coast it carpets the shingle with 

 its bright and handsome yellow flowers. 



An old writer speaks of the seakale or colewort as 

 " growing naturally upon the baych and brims of the 

 sea, where there is no earth to be seen, but sand and 

 rolling pibble stones," and another mentions that 

 " very good Coleworts come up yearly out of the stony 

 heaps " along the Suffolk shore. The plant has now 

 become very rare in Suffolk, and the county Flora even 

 states that it is " believed to be extinct," but I found 

 several plants between Dunwich and Walsberwick a 

 few summers ago. The sea-spurge (E. Paralias, L.) 

 may also be seen springing up out of the shingle in 

 luxuriant profusion. It sometimes even assumes the 

 size of a small bush, and I counted as many as thirty 

 stems rising from a single root. In the olden times the 

 family of spurge or " Tithymale " played an important 

 part in domestic medicine, and the " strongest kinde of 

 Tithymale and o-f greatest force is," we learn, " that of 

 the sea." In confirmation whereof John Gerard the 



