456 The Botanical Gazette. [October, 
The faculty which dune plants possess of developing in win- 
ter and early spring has doubtless been acquired in order that 
they may escape the unfavorable conditions to which they 
would be subject in summer. 
Various contrivances are possessed by the dune plants for 
securing the absorption of water and preventing its evapora- 
tion. Chief among the former is the very extensive root sys- 
the base; the petiole forms a spring, probably due to a dif- 
ference in turgescence between the upper and lower face, and 
presses the blade energetically against the soil. This pre- 
vents the wind from disturbing the superficial layers of sand, 
and thus checks evaporation. ond 
Other species, very numerous, form a screen; the win 
breaks against them before striking the earth. Some of = 
are shrubs, as Hippophaé, Ligustrum, Salix repens, etc. ; ot 4 
ers are low, cushion-like herbs, such as Galium Mollugo an 
G. verum, Ononis repens, Anthyllis Vulneraria, etc. 
Contrivances for storing up water are common, advantage 
being taken of the intermittent rains to make provision for 
water against periods of drouth. 
Fleshy plants, however, are rare in the dunes; only Sedum 
acre, Euphorbia Paralias, Lotus corniculatus var. peer eet: 
Convolvulus, Soldanella, etc. are found. This dearth o 
fleshy plants is attributed to the destructive action exercised 
upon them by the wind charged with grains of sand; it is — 
to find an adult leaf of a fleshy plant, of Lotus, for example, 
which is not injured in many places. 
Wherever the land is subject to tides, as on the pre: 
and at the base of the dunes close to the sea, plants wit 
fleshy leaves or stems predominate. Among such plants are 
Cakile, Salsola, Honckenya, Salicornia, Suaeda, Statice, Ar- 
meria, Glaux, Spergularia, etc. : l 
The author attributes the stunted condition of the littora 
plants to the fact that they seek in every way to limit the — 
of water; transpiration is thus reduced and the amount 0 
