Seasides and Strand Plants 
Those near shore are already occupied by a short 
sward of vegetation. These are quite flat, often very 
wide in extent, and are definitely conquered and being 
utilised by the plant world. 
We shall call them the Armeria mud-flats, for in 
early summer they are quite beautiful with the exquisite 
pink flowers of the seathrift or Armeria. 
If one proceeds towards the water, one finds, after a 
greater or less interval, that Armeria and most of its 
companions suddenly disappear. At first one might 
think that there are no more land plants, but towards 
the sea the undulating surfaces of the highest banks 
are covered with a faint light-green tint. 
When, after some difficulty, such a place is reached, 
ones finds distantly scattered over the surface multi- 
tudes of a small but most interesting plant, the salt- 
wort (Salicornia herbacea), But in the estuary there 
is still another land-vegetation—the submerged sea- 
grass meadows of Zostera and its allies, Ruppia and 
Zannichellia. 
These three associations—submerged sea-grass mea- 
dows, saltwort banks, and Armeria flats—are engaged 
in the same task which is to occupy the estuarine mud- 
and sand-banks, and turn them into good and fertile land. 
Zostera and its allies are to be found chiefly about 
low-water mark, though they go to considerable depths 
(9, 15, or even 35 feet below the water). In such 
places they require very special contrivances, both to 
keep themselves anchored and also for pollination. 
Zostera stems are prostrate, curved, and firmly held 
by roots alternately placed on either side and directed 
sideways. During a tug-of-war (if one is calm enough 
in spirit) one sees the rope becoming inevitably curved 
by the men at the loose end throwing themselves back, 
whilst the part held by the first two or three men is 
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