158 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



hours the whole place is just as dry as it was 

 before the shower. Accordingly those plants 

 which have accommodated themselves to 

 such situations have necessarily acquired very 

 thick and fleshy leaves ; and this acquisition 

 was the easier to make, because proximity to 

 the sea produces in all plants a slight succu- 

 lent tendency. As soon as rain falls they 

 drink up all the waterthat comes in the way 

 of their spreading rootlets, and then they 

 store it away in their broad leaves or thick 

 stems till they require it for use. Just as the 

 camel takes one long drink before starting, 

 which supplies his wants for some days in 

 the desert, so the saltwort takes one long 

 drink at each shower and subsists upon that 

 till the next rainfall. 



The history of this seaside weed can be 

 easily traced by means of its own existing 

 structure. By origin it is one of the goose- 

 foots, a family of small weedy-looking plants, 

 which grow abundantly in all waste places and 

 over heaps of rubbish near cultivated ground. 



