3° 



first case we may suppose that the tap-root pierces down to 

 some substratum of moisture, whence the plant may obtain 

 part of its nourishment ; but in the latter the fibres often 

 appear to be anchors by which the plant is prevented from 

 being blown away — with which view, also, no doubt, the 

 whole plant is frequently procumbent, or lying flat upon the 

 ground to an extraordinary extent, so that sometimes we find 

 many square feet of soil, if soil it deserves to be called, 

 covered by a dense mat of vegetation formed by a single plant. 



Once more, several of these sea-side plants are marked by 

 strong (often aromatic) flavours. Samphire, for example, has 

 a flavour utterly unlike anything else, about which tastes differ, 

 but of which I own to being very fond. The same is the 

 case with Fennel, Asparagus, and Celery, all of which are 

 found wild only on the sea-coasts — the first and last of them 

 falling within our range. The Sea-Gromwell, which I have 

 more than once mentioned, and which is the model of a sea- 

 side plant, presenting in perfection all the characters I have 

 mentioned, tastes strongly and unmistakeably of oysters. 

 Indeed in Shetland, upon the stony shores of which, in Cola- 

 firth Voe, I had the pleasure of finding it last year, it is called 

 the Oyster-plant. I saw specimens of it more than six feet 

 long, and in no part as much as two inches from the ground. 

 With its thick mass of glaucous fleshy leaves and terminal 

 many-flowered cymes of pale blue flowers, it is as striking 

 a plant as I have ever seen. I very much wish I had the 

 chance of shewing it to you to-day. That, however, is out of 

 the question, so if you wish to see it you must go, as I did, to 

 Shetland. There too you may chance to find the Norway 

 Sand- Wort, Arenaria Norwegica, another, but very small, fleshy 

 sea-side plant ; one of the few surviving remnants of the 

 Arctic Flora which once spread far and wide over our Nor- 

 thern hill-sides, but which lingers only on the tops of our 

 loftiest mountains, or on the extreme shores of our Northern- 

 most islands. 



Such are the principal external characteristics of these 

 sea-side plants, and I strongly recommend you not to take 

 them for granted, but to verify them for yourselves upon such 

 of these p :ints as you may come across. Many of them grow 

 within the five mile radius, and therefore, all fairly under the 

 investigation of our Society, and one fact learned or verified 



