SEA-COAST 



27 



the Somerset coast, and has become naturalized 

 on the Somerset coast. 



ORDER UMBELLIFER^E 



Slender Hare's Ear (Bupleurum tenuissimum, 

 L.). (The habitat of this plant is salt marshes, 

 pastures near the sea, and waste places. The 

 habit is more or less the grass habit. The 

 stem is solid, wavy, ribbed, wiry, very slender, 

 branched, erect or prostrate. The leaves are 

 linear-lance-shaped, with a long, narrow point, 

 3-nerved, rigid, the lowest slightly swollen up- 

 wards. The bracts are awl -like, unequal, 3-5, 

 the bracteoles the same. The flowers are yellow 

 and very small, in umbels or stalkless, in the axils 

 or terminal, the partial umbels of 3-5, overtopping 

 the involucre, in a raceme, or more or less spike- 

 like along the branches. The fruit is broad, small, 

 granulate between the 5 prominent ridges. There 

 are no vittae. The plant is 6-12 in. in height, 

 and flowers between July and September, being 

 a herbaceous annual. 



Wild Celery (Apium graveolens, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is wet places, marshes and 

 ditches, especially near the sea. The plant is erect 

 in habit, and has a strong scent. The root is 

 spindle-shaped. The stem is smooth, erect, stout, 

 grooved, branched, and leafy. The leaves are 

 pinnate, with lobes each side of a common stalk, 

 or trifoliate. The leaflets in the upper leaves are 

 wedge-shaped, those of the radical leaves are 

 stalked, round - lobed. The flowers are small, 

 greenish-white, in stalkless or shortly-stalked ter- 

 minal or lateral umbels, with no partial involucres, 

 with one or two leaves, with leaflets in threes. 

 The petals are hooded. The fruit is round. The 

 styles are short, bent back, and spreading. The 

 plant is 1-3 ft. high, flowering between June and 

 August, and is a herbaceous biennial or perennial. 



Fennel (Fceniculum -vulgare, L.). The habitat 

 of this plant is sea cliffs, rocks, and walls. The 

 habit is erect. The stems are branching, round 

 below, finely furrowed, polished, filled with pith 

 or nearly solid. The leaves are dark-green, much 

 divided, 3-4-pinnate, shortly-stalked, with many 

 slender, linear lobes, hair-like, limp, channelled, 

 the upper long. The flowers are small, yellow, 

 in large bluish-green, concave umbels, with many 

 rays. The fruit is egg-shaped. The plant is 

 3-5 ft. high, flowering in July and August, and 

 is a herbaceous perennial. 



Lovage (Ligusticum scoticum, L.). The habitat 

 of this plant is rocky coasts, sea cliffs in northern 

 Britain, rocks on the northern sea-coast. The 

 habit is the rosette habit. The rootstock is stout, 

 branched. The stems are erect, little branched, 

 nearly simple, hollow, round, grooved, herbaceous, 

 tinged with red. The leaves are dull-green, mainly 

 radical, twice ternate. The leaflets are egg- 

 shaped, rhomboidal, or round to heart-shaped, 

 toothed, opaque, large, lobed or cut, scalloped. 

 The flowers are white or pink, nearly regular, in 

 umbels with 8-12 rays. The involucres consist of 

 5-7 leaves, the bracts are few, and the bracteoles 



linear to awl-like. The calyx is 5-toothed. The 

 fruit is brown, the ridges winged, the interstices 

 with 3, the commissure with 6 stripes. The seed 

 is free. The style is short, bent backwards. The 

 plant is 9 in. to 3 ft. high, flowering in July and 

 August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Hog's Fennel (Peucedanum officinale, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is maritime marshes and 

 cliffs, salt marshes. The habit is erect. The 

 stems are rounded, solid, furrowed. The leaves 

 are five times ternate, oblong. The leaflets are 

 linear, limp, long and narrow, acute. The flowers 

 are small, yellow, in a large umbel, on spreading, 

 more or less opposite, branches, with many rays, 

 spreading. The central flowers are imperfect. 

 The involucre consists of 3 bracts which soon 

 fall, and the bracteoles are short and thread-like. 

 The ultimate flower-stalks are slender, longer 

 than the fruit. The fruit has narrow wings, and 

 the stripes of the commissures are superficial. 

 The styles are stout, bent back. The plant is 

 2-3 ft. high, flowering from July to September, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER DIPSACE^E 



Sea Scabious (Scabiosa marilima, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is sandy places. The habit is 

 the rosette habit more or less. The leaves are 

 deeply-divided nearly to the base. The flower- 

 heads are purple. The involucel and its base are 

 furrowed. The corolla is 5-cleft. The plant is 

 9-18 in, high, and flowers in July and August, 

 being a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER COMPOSITE 



Sea Aster (Aster Tripolium, L.). The habitat 

 of this plant is muddy salt-marshes. The plant is 

 erect in habit. The root is spindle-shaped, with 

 long fibres. The stem is hairless, leafy, corym- 

 bose above, with few branches, stout. The leaves 

 are spoon-shaped, linear-lanceshaped, or inversely 

 egg-shaped, succulent or fleshy, smooth, scat- 

 tered, faintly 3-nerved, slightly toothed, the upper 

 linear. The flowerheads are in a corymb, large, 

 the disk florets yellow, complete, the ray florets 

 purple, female, 20-30. The disk florets are tubular 

 below, bell-shaped above. The flower-stalk is 

 slender. The involucre is overlapping, with blunt 

 phyllaries and membranous, the inner longer, 

 closely pressed, few, oblong. The fruit is hairy. 

 The pappus is dirty-white. The plant is 1-3 ft. 

 high, flowering in August and September, and is 

 a herbaceous perennial. 



Golden Samphire (Inula crithmoides, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is maritime rocks, or salt- 

 marshes, rocks, and muddy salt-marshes. The 

 habit is erect. The plant is yellowish-green, hair- 

 less. The stem is stout, leafy, slightly branched 

 near the top, each ending in a solitary head. The 

 leaves are linear, stalkless, blunt or with 3 points, 

 fleshy, succulent, narrow below, entire or with 

 2-4 shallow lobes. The flowerheads are few, in 

 simple corymbs on long stalks, with orange disk 



