io8 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



thicket of it remains. The fishermen will tell you that 

 the plant owes its origin to some seeds being washed 

 ashore from the wreck of a ship, but it is undoubtedly 

 indigenous in East Anglia. Near the thicket of Suceda 

 fruticosa a few plants of the slender hare's-ear (Bup- 

 leurum tenuissimum, L.) may, by diligent searching, be 

 found. It is, as its name indicates, a small, unassuming 

 species, with grass-like leaves and minute yellowish 

 flowers, but of special interest on account of its rarity. 

 Crabbe found it on the banks of the river at Hollesley 

 and by the salt ditches in the Aldeburgh marshes, 

 where, it may be, it still flourishes, and perhaps no- 

 where else on the Suffolk coast except at Walberswick. 

 The stalked sea-purslane has also been recorded from 

 the same localities, but I have repeatedly searched for 

 it in vain. If, however, the existence of the rare pur- 

 slane be doubtful, this is not the case with the equally 

 scarce and far more beautiful sea-heath, or Frankenia 

 Icevis, L. This lovely little plant, with wiry stems and 

 small rose-coloured flowers, trails over the muddy 

 surface of the marsh, giving sometimes, from the 

 abundance of its blossoms, a rosy tint to the ground 

 over which it creeps. If the plant be closely examined 

 it will be seen that the leaves are rolled back at the 

 margins, giving them the appearance of being linear 

 instead of oblong. It is found in Suffolk only on the 

 salt marshes near Bawdsey Ferry, and at Walberswick, 

 where it has increased of late years. 



The most beautiful plant in the flora of the salt 

 marshes is beyond question the sea-lavender. It comes 

 into flower late in summer, when the crab-grass is be- 

 ginning to turn yellow, and the sea-aster or starwort is 

 fringing the pools, and it often covers with sheets of its 



