SEA-SIDE PLANTS. 41 



fair sex. This sea-side spinach is certainly very 

 wholesome, and if it were not a wild plant would 

 be in much request. The roots of all the beets 

 contain much saccharine matter, and the well- 

 known experiments of the French on another 

 species, the red beet, for the purpose of obtaining 

 sugar, need not be referred to. No such quantity 

 of sugary substance is yielded by other European 

 esculents as by this. This plant is also common 

 as a culinary root, and is also frequently used for 

 salads, and its deep red colour deserves the name 

 given to the whole tribe by our Saxon ancestors ; 

 for "beet" appears to be the corruption of their 

 word "bet," which signified "red." The Italians 

 call the plant Barba Brettola, and the French term 

 it Betterave. The juice of our common beet is said 

 to cure head-ache, and if drawn up the nostrils to 

 occasion sneezing. 



We have not more than three or four shrubs 

 which can be called natives of our British shores ; 

 the yellow furze bush, however (UlexEuropoeus), 

 may be very well planted there, for it will bear all 

 the rough winds and the salt spray, and still be 

 rich with golden blossoms almost throughout the 

 year. One of our most beautiful sea-side shrubs 

 is the tree mallow (Lavatera arborea), and even 

 this is better known by its place in our shrub- 

 beries than by its frequent growth on the cliffs of 

 our island ; it, however, adorns some of the rocks 

 on the south and south-west shores of England 

 and the eastern shores of Scotland. The Rev. 

 J. A. Johns, in his interesting work, called " A 

 Week at the Lizard," says of it " It is a large 

 and picturesque plant, and chooses to perch itself 

 on the insulated rocks all along this coast, in which 



