AUTUMN BOTANY AT CLACTON. 
249 
tani, Spartina strict a, Inula crithmoides, Lactuca saligna, L. virosa, 
Rumex maritimus f R. limosus, Chenopodium glaucum, Onopordon 
acanihium, Cratcegus oxyacanthoides, Quercus sessili flora, etc. 
In studying the shore vegetation, one notices that, where 
the concrete sea wall protecting the low-lying land west of 
Clacton ends, there commences, above high-tide limit, a line 
of low sand hillocks—miniature dunes—formed by the growth 
of the Marram Grass ( Ammophila arenaria) and the Sea Couch 
Grass (Agropyron junceum), which are accompanied on the 
sea-ward side by Honckenya peploides. Other members of these 
miniature dunes are Carex arenaria and Convolvulus soldanella. 
Where the hillocks are less marked, a strand association con¬ 
sisting'of Sea Rocket ( Cakile ), both white and lilac flowered, 
Atriplex laciniata and Agropyron junceum, occurs. Further 
on, the strand-association is reduced to Agropyron junceum, 
which .also dominates the adjoining sandy ground, accom¬ 
panied by Marram Grass and Sea Purslane ( Honckenya ). Here 
and there the reed {Phragmites) is a member of the association. 
On the inner side of these hillocks, muddy and sandy bare 
places, and shallow pools of salt water exist. The drier places 
are occupied by a closed vegetation consisting of Agropyron 
pungens, Juncus gerardi, and Glaux maritima. Where the 
ground is subject to occasional over-flows of salt-water, this 
society is reduced to the J uncus. Where the soil is more charged 
with water these species are associated :— Honckenya peploides, 
Aster tripolium, Glaux maritima, Plantago maritima , Triglochin 
maritimum, J uncus gerardi, Garex arenaria , Agropyron pungens. 
In and about the shallow pools of salt water, various species 
of Salicornia abound. Plants that also grow on the sandy 
shore here are, Statice limonium, Salsola kali, Eryngium mari¬ 
timum, Atriplex babingtonii, Festuca rubra var. barbata, etc. 
Further inshore, where the soil is more compacted, the sea 
Couch-grass Agropyron pungens is dominant, accompanied 
by Beta maritima, Suceda maritima, various Atriplices such as 
A. littoralis and A. portulacoides, etc., Artemisia maritima, 
Bupleurum tenuissimum, Spergularia marginata var. glandulosa, 
S. neglecta. 
The sandy ground, protected by the concrete sea wall, bears 
such plants as Trifolium arvense, T. fragiferum, T. procumbens, 
Plantago coronopus, J uncus maritimus, Phragmites communis. 
