232 PLANTS GROWING IN SANDY SOIL. 



with an erect, sentinel-like bearing that is very imposing, and 

 no one is afraid, even though it is called Spanish bayonet. 



BEACH PLUM. 



Primus maritima. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Plum. White or rose tinted. Sweet scented. Maine to Virginia. Aprils May. 



Flmvers : growing in round, dense clusters. Calyx: urn-shaped, with five 

 green lobes. Corolla : of five rosaceous petals. Stamens : numerous. Pistil : 

 one. Fruit: a drupe, or havmg a stone enclosed in the centre; glaucous. 

 Leaves: alternate, with stipules; oval; finely toothed; downy underneath. A 

 low shrub with dark, purple bark. 



In the sandy soil of the sea-beaches this spreading shrub may 

 be found growing abundantly. The bumblebees know well its 

 home and seem to have deserted every other flower to hover 

 about it drowsily. It is a native of America and delicious pre- 

 serves have been made from its fruit. 



BIRD'S=FOOT VIOLET. {Plate CXXI.) 

 Viola pedal a. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Violet. Pale blue and Scentless. New England to Minn. May. 



deep purple. and southward. 



Flowers : large, one inch across ; solitary ; nodding ; growing on a scape. 

 Calyx : of five pointed sepals with ears at the bases. Corolla : of five unequal, 

 beardless petals, one of which extends into a spur. Stamens : united about the 

 pistil. Pistil :ox\q; style, club-shaped. Leaves: from the base ; pedately five 

 to nine-parted; the lobes narrow; spatulate. 



From time immemorial violets have had their historians, 

 their eulogists, and their worshippers; and yet, they are not 

 strikingly handsome plants that claim instant admiration ; they 

 are simply gentle, modest and sweet. 



It is not, perhaps, generally known that until recently the 

 violet was highly prized in medicine ; and physicians of the 

 middle ages regarded it as one of their four cordial flowers. In 

 the time of Charles II. a conserve called violet paste, or violet 

 sugar, was in great favour with royalty and all the more 

 eagerly consumed because it was thought to be a preventative 



