SEA-COAST 



35 



plant is sea -coasts. The habit is erect. The 

 radical leaves are oblong, not so broad as in K. 

 conglomerates, strap-shaped, rounded, narrowed 

 at both ends. The bracts are few, narrow. The 

 panicle is tapering-, with close whorls, all, but the 

 2-3 lowest, leafless. The enlarged fruiting- seg- 

 ments are large, with nearly parallel sides, very 

 large tubercles, and narrow, egg-shaped to oblong, 

 blunt. The nut is egg-shaped, acute. The plant 

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

 tember, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Curled Dock (Rumex crispus, L.). The habitat 

 of this plant is roadsides, field borders, waste 

 ground, and it is native on seashores, glades in 

 woods, natural broken ground. The habit is erect, 

 more or less of the rosette or pyramidal type. 

 The stem is branched, sometimes reddish. The 

 leaves are oblong, lance -shaped, acute, wavy, 

 crisped, the base blunt, rounded, or acute. The 

 flowers are in a panicle, with erect branches, leafv 

 below, in crowded whorls, leafless. The flower- 

 stalks are jointed below, twice as long as the fruit- 

 ing perianth-segments, or shorter. The perianth- 

 segments are oblong, ovate, heart-shaped, blunt, 

 more or less entire, the upper ones having a broad, 

 smooth tubercle. They are green or red, netted, 

 the inner are entire or scalloped, the upper one 

 principally tubercled. The nut is elliptic, brown. 

 The plant is 2-4 ft. high, flowering from June to 

 August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER EUPHORBIACE^: 



Portland Spurge (Euphorbia portlandica, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is sandy seashores. The 

 habit is erect or ascending. The rootstock is 

 cylindrical, woody, twisted. The plant is bluish - 

 green, hairless. The stems are numerous, tufted, 

 naked, scarred below, branched, leafy above. The 

 leaves are inversely egg-shaped, lance-shaped, 

 blunt, leathery, alternate, scattered, spreading, 

 acute or blunt-pointed, entire. The bracts are 

 triangular, or kidney - shaped to heart-shaped, 

 broader than long, keeled, abrupt. The flower- 

 heads are in umbels of 3-5 rays, forked, the invol- 

 ucral lobes 4, moon -shaped, long- horned. The 

 capsules are rough at the angles or on the backs 

 of the valves, faintly keeled. The seeds are 

 whitish, with brown pits, and netted, opaque, the 

 cuticle brown, the caruncle large. The plant is 

 6-18 in. high, flowering between April and Sep- 

 tember, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Sea Spurge (Euphorbia Paralias, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is sandy seashores. The 

 habit is erect or ascending. The plant is bushy, 

 reddish or bluish-green. The rootstock is woody, 

 tough. The barren stems are numerous, naked, 

 with tubercles below. The leaves are pale-green, 

 thick, leathery, overlapping, entire, elliptic, oblong, 

 lance-shaped, the radical linear to inversely egg- 

 shaped, oblong, the upper egg-shaped. The bracts 

 are broadly heart-shaped, broader than long. The 

 flowering stem is about i ft. high. The flower- 

 heads are in umbels of 5-8 forked rays, short, 

 stout. The involucres are stalkless or stalked, 



with 3-4 short points. The capsules are leathery, 

 wrinkled, lobed, with rough valves with a dorsal 

 depression. The seeds are egg-shaped, dotted, 

 whitish, with a very small caruncle. The plant is 

 9-18 in. in height, flowering between July and 

 October, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Purple Sea Spurge (Euphorbia Peplis, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is sandy shores, loose sand, 

 shingle. The habit is prostrate, then ascending. 

 The plant is bluish-green or purplish. The stems 

 are numerous, forked, dividing into two forks re- 

 peatedly, spreading from the base. The leaves are 

 opposite, half heart-shaped, with stipules (egg- 

 shaped, divided into two nearly to the base) nearly 

 entire, leathery, shortly stalked, blunt or notched, 

 the base auricled on one side, blunt on the other, 

 hairless. The flowerheads are solitary, the invo- 

 lucres in the axils or forks, shortly stalked, with 

 oblong glands. The capsule is keeled, with 

 smooth, hairless valves. The seeds are white, 

 and have no caruncle. The plant is 2-10 in. in 

 height, flowering between July and September, 

 and is a herbaceous annual. 



ORDER LILIACE^E 



Asparagus (Asparagus officinaUs, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is sea-cliffs. The habit is 

 prostrate below. The rootstock is prostrate, the 

 young shoots having triangular scales below. 

 The stems are numerous, round in section, more 

 or less erect, wavy, branched, spineless, the 

 branches slender, the cladodes bristle-like, in 

 groups, flexible. The flowers are drooping, in 

 the axils, unisexual, yellowish-green, or dirty- 

 white to yellow, with red veins, the males the 

 larger. The stalk is as long as the flower, jointed 

 in the middle. The berry is round, red, smooth, 

 shining, 3-celled. The seeds are large, hard, 

 black, smooth. The plant is 6-18 in. in height, 

 flowering in June and July, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



ORDER JUNCACE/E 



Baltic Rush (Juncus balticus, Willd.). The 

 habitat of this plant is sandy wet seashores, inland 

 lakes (Aberdeen). The habit is rush-like. The 

 rootstock is far-creeping, not tufted. The stems 

 are rigid, with continuous pith, few, pale green, 

 hardly finely-furrowed. The leaves are wanting, or 

 small points at the top of the sheathing scales. 

 The flowers are few, in an erect panicle, slightly 

 branched. The perianth is dark brown, with a 

 pale midrib, the segments acute, egg-shaped to 

 lance-shaped, as long as the capsule. The anthers 

 are longer than their stalks. There are 3 stamens. 

 The capsule is 3-angled, egg-shaped, blunt-pointed, 

 elliptic. It is distinguished from J. glaucus by the 

 far -creeping rootstock, hardly finely - furrowed 

 stem, and continuous pith. The plant is 1-2 ft. 

 high, flowering in July and August, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Juncus Gerardi, Lois. The habitat of this plant 

 is sea-coasts, salt marshes. The plant has the 

 rush habit. It has been regarded as a subspecies 



