Common Seaside Plants 



95 



the second letter of the Greek alphabet. Flowers green, 

 single or clustered, in loose, long, terminal spikes, often 

 branching into a leafy panicle. The white and red Beets, 

 and the Mangel Wurzel (root of scarcity) are cultivated 

 varieties of this species. {Chenopodiacece .) 



Glass-wort {Salicornia herbacea). 



Generic name from sal, "salt," and comas, "a horn." 

 Herbaceus, " grassy." Glass-wort from furnishing ashes for 

 glass-making. Flowers forming terminal, succulent, cylin- 

 drical spikes. The style is included in the succulent perianth, 

 and divided into two or three stigmas. Leaves none. 

 {Chenopodiacece .) 



Sea Pink (Armeria mavitima). 



Armeria, the Latin name for Sweet William. Also called 

 Thrift, which is the passive particle of " threave " or 

 " thrive," to press close together. Flowering stems simple, 

 from three to eight inches high, each bearing a globular head 

 of pink or sometimes white flowers. Leaves narrow-linear, 

 with a single prominent mid-rib. [Plnmbaginece .) 



Sea Campion (Silene mavitima). 



From sialon, "saliva," in allusion to the viscid moisture on 

 the stalks of many of the species, by which the smaller kinds 

 of flies are entrapped ; hence also the English name of the 

 genus, Catchfly. Flowers white, almost solitary. It very 

 much resembles the campion of the fields and roadsides, but 

 differs in the shorter stem, more obtuse leaves, and the larger 

 scales on the petals. (Cavyophyllece.) 



Sea Purslane (Arenavia peploides). 



Arena, " sand," in reference to the sandy soil on which it 

 grows. Purslane is Italian porcellana, a name applied by 

 Marco Polo to some fine earthenware made in China, and 

 adopted from the name of a sea-shell, which it resembled in 

 texture. Flowers few, on short pedicels. Sepals five. 



