SEA-SIDE PLANTS. 87 



cut into many segments, and lie in great profusion 

 close to the ground, all round the stem. The 

 flower is like all our other plantains, a greenish 

 spike. There is no doubt that the leaves were 

 formerly used in salads ; but they are, in the 

 opinion of the author, very unpleasant in flavour. 

 A rather conspicuous plant, the Mountain Garlic 

 (Allium carinatum), with dull-coloured yellowish 

 or brownish white flowers, may be found in July 

 on sandy grounds on the south-east coast of Eng- 

 land, and on one or two spots of the Scottish 

 shore. Its leaves are long and slender. Its odour 

 forms no pleasant addition to the scent of a wild- 

 flower nosegay, but all the garlics were once highly 

 prized for remedial virtues, and they were thought, 

 Fuller says, to be " Soveraigne for men and beasts 

 in most maladies," though, as this excellent old 

 writer adds, " the scent thereof is somewhat valiant 

 and offensive." 



The Knot-grass, growing on many beaches, is 

 by most writers thought to be a distinct species 

 from the common knot-grass of our every way- 

 side. The Polygonum maritimum is a larger plant 

 than that, covering some feet with its long woody 

 stems and branches, and making many a green 

 patch on which animals who may stray thither 

 may make a sweet repast. 



On the south and south-western shores only of 

 England, and on some parts of the Irish and Welsh 

 coast, may be found the lesser Wart-cress ( Coron- 

 opus didymd), with its cut leaves and dense masses 

 of small white cruciferous flowers. It sufficiently 

 resembles the common swine-cress, or wart-cress 

 of our inland waste places, to be identified by one 



