THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



XEROPHYTIC VEGETATION. 



BY CHARLOTTE L. LAURIE, 

 Assistant Mistress, Cheltenham Ladies' College. 



CHAPTER I 

 SEASHORE VEGETATION 



IT would be difficult to find a country with a more varied 

 coast-line than that of our islands. The chalk of Kent, 

 the sandstone of Devon, the granite and serpentine of Cornwall, 

 the limestone of S. Wales, all combine to produce a variety of 

 coast almost unknown elsewhere in so short a distance. Every 

 type of shore is to be found in these islands : gravel beaches, bold 

 rocky headlands, great stretches of sand, deep bays, wide estuaries ; 

 and each has its characteristic vegetation. 



It will be most convenient to arrange this great variety of 

 types in the following groups : 



1. The Plant Associations of muddy banks. 



2. ,, sandy shores and sand-dunes. 



3. ,, ,, pebble banks and shingle. 



4. ,, rocky headlands. 



THE VEGETATION OF MUDDY SEASHORES. Mud plants may be 

 studied at the estuary of any tidal river ; the shores of the Bristol 

 Channel afford excellent examples of the plants belonging to 

 mudd}' salt marshes, owing to the fact that the tides are there 



VOL. V. I 



