CHAPTER XII 



AT THE SEASIDE. NEAR THE COAST 



Salt air and sandy soil attract their own flowers. Among them 

 are plants with stiff, unyielding foliage, of a stern and defying 

 sort, which venture so close to the ocean that they are watered 

 with its salt spray. Others, of a tenderer character, creep behind 

 the protecting dunes, nestling in hollows, craving shelter from the 

 fierce gales. Actual coast vegetation is sparse. There are no 

 trees, and only a few hardy shrubs. The shore is joined to the 

 country by a skirting fringe of pines, oaks, cedars, and locusts, 

 beneath whose shade still other species are content to dwell. 



The flowers grouped in this chapter may, some of them, like the 

 Canadian burnet, have crept inland; but most are recognized as 

 belonging to the seashore. 



Some flowers that grow in salt marshes and pine barrens near 

 the coast are here included. 



Red-root {Lacnanthes tinctoria). Page 157. In sandy swamps 



near the coast. 

 Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes praecox). Page 54. Southern. 

 Bayberry {Myrica carolinensis) . Page 379. Sterile soil, not 



far from the coast. Pine woods. 

 Smooth Alder (Alnus rugosa). Page 381. 

 Golden Dock (Rumex persicarioides) . Page 27. 

 White Dock (R. pallidus). Page 26. On rocks, sea-beaches, 



and marshes. 

 Seaside Knotweed {Polygonum mar itimum). Page 58. 

 (P. prolificum) . Page 251. 



Coast Blite (Chenopodium rubrum). Page 253. Salt marshes. 

 Orach (Atriplex patula). Page 28. 

 Sea Beach Atriplex (A. arenaria). Page 28. 

 Glasswort. Samphire (Salicornia mucronata). Page 28. 

 (5. europaea). Page 29. 

 (S. ambigua). Page 29. 

 Sea Blite (Sueda linearis). Page 29. 

 Saltwort (Salsola Kali). Page 253. 

 Sea Purslane (Sesuvium maritimum). Page 307, 

 Sand Spurrey (Spergularia marina). Page 253. 



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