SEASHORE PLANTS ARE SALT-LOVING 15 



marly soil impregnated with sodium chloride. Crithmum has here 

 disappeared, but Armeria (Sea Thrift) is still abundant. As the 

 summit is reached, Armeria dies out ; and the remainder of the 

 down is occupied by the Limestone associations/' This transi- 

 tional stage is commonly seen in the downs or pastures near the 

 sea. Off the coast of Cornwall, in the neighbourhood of Mullion 

 and the Lizard, where the Serpentine rocks form bold headlands, 

 the vegetation consists of the Wild Squill, the Sea Thrift, the 

 Lady's Fingers (Anihyllis Vulneraria), the Scurvy Grass, and several 

 plants of the Goosefoot tribe. These are not found on the cliffs, 

 but just inland, where a thin layer of soil has been deposited on 

 the rocks. One of the most characteristic plants is the Camo- 

 mile, which is noted in a history of Cornwall written in 1842. 

 The writer, describing the neighbourhood of Liskeard, says : 

 " Notwithstanding the rocks of granite scattered over the land, 

 the ground was rich in flowers. Purple and gold tints prevailed 

 in the heath and furze blossoms. Beds of Camomile exhaled an 

 agreeable odour, covering many spots on the hillside upon the 

 way to the town of Liskeard, distant only two or three miles." 

 Similarly, the chalk pastures near the sea in such a county as 

 Sussex will be characterised by maritime plants. 



SEASHORE PLANTS ARE SALT-LOVING. Plants adapted for 

 life in salt marshes and by the seashore, where they are constantly 

 washed by the spray of the waves, differ from plants living away 

 from the sea in the percentage of common salt found in them. 

 The amount of salt in plants growing inland is not usually more 

 than 5 per cent. ; it is far greater in seashore plants. 

 In the Sea Thrift it varies from 12*69 to I 5' I P er cent. 

 Sea Aster it varies from 43 to 49 per cent. 

 Sea Artemisia it reaches 26-68 per cent. 

 Sandwort (Arenaria media) it reaches 36-55 per cent. 

 Sea Plantain it reaches 45*53 per cent. 



These plants seem to have a craving for salt, so much so that if 

 grown in ordinary soil they extract as much as they can from it. 

 A species of Scurvy Grass grown on sandstone, when analysed, was 

 found to have 41*70 per cent, of salt ; a Sea Rocket grown on man- 

 ured land had 15*46, and the Sea Holly as much as 19*30 in its ash. 



