leaves are mealy, and it is much like the Bird's-eye Primrose of the mountainous pastures of the north of England, which, though rare in most places, is not unfrequent in Yorkshire.

The Sea Stork's Bill (Erodium maritimum) is a little rare sea-side plant, which grows among the sands in some parts of the Welsh coast, and on the southern shores of England. It flowers from May until September, but its little pale red petals seem no sooner to make their appearance than the wind carries them off, and it is difficult to find specimens in full flower. Like the other storks' bills, its seed-vessels have so great a resemblance to the beak of the stork as to enable any one to recognise it by their form.

Several pea-shaped flowers grow on our shores, but the Sea Pea (Lathyrus maritimus), which thrives on stony beaches in several parts of the eastern and southern shores of England, as well as on the coasts of the Shetland Isles, is the largest and prettiest of them all. It bears a good many purple flowers, finely veined with crimson, and it yields enough leaves and stems to be a welcome food to cattle; while its long and deeply-spreading roots are almost as useful in binding down the sand as are the mat-grasses. The seeds are of bitter flavour, yet they were once very valuable as food to many when England suffered from famine.

Another pea-shaped flower, the rough-podded Yellow Vetch (Vicia lutea), is found on rocky or stony ground, especially near the sea; but it is not confined to the shore, and is not a common flower. It has large blossoms, growing singly. It is abundant about the rocks of Dunure Castle, and

on the hills at Queensferry, but seems confined to that part only of the neighbourhood. It grows also in Suffolk and Sussex, and on some Scottish shores. Then, too, the smooth-podded Vetch (Vicia lævigata), with its pale blue or whitish flowers, has a liking to the sea, and blooms in July and August on the pebbly shore of Weymouth in Dorsetshire; and the rare rough-podded purple Vetch (Vicia Bithynica), with its pale purple wings, is to be searched for in maritime spots, as it grows there more often than elsewhere.

Every one has rejoiced in his country walks at the sweet scent of the clovers or trefoils of our meadows, and the bees rejoice over them too. Our purple sweet-scented clover does not send up its odour mingled with that of the salt wave, but large patches of the white or Dutch clover (the Irish shamrock), lie upon the beach; not because this clover thrives best near the sea, but because it is hardy enough to thrive anywhere. We have besides trefoils peculiar to the coast, and such as may properly be called maritime species, but they are not very frequent flowers. The Teasel-headed Trefoil (Trifolium maritimum) is found in June and July in salt marshes on the eastern and southern shores of England. It is of a pale reddish purple colour. On the sea-coast of Sussex, between Shoreham harbour and the sea, the very beautiful species called the Starry-headed Trefoil (Trifolium stellatum) is said by Sir William Hooker to grow in great abundance. It is a singular and elegant species, with long calyces or flower-cups, and while young the small cream-coloured flowers are almost hid among their straight bristly teeth, till becoming larger they open into a beautiful starry shape,

and assume a degree of redness. The rough rigid Trefoil (Trifolium scabrum) is found also on the Scottish coasts, as well as on sandy inland fields in England; and sometimes, but rarely, that little

inconspicuous flower, the Suffocated Trefoil (Trifolium suffocatum) gratifies the botanist more than the ordinary lover of wild flowers, by springing up under his footstep, as he walks along the Norfolk or Suffolk coast.

The reticulated Medick (Medicago denticulata)

is another little plant which the maritime botanist looks for in June on some coasts. It has been found on exposed sandy shores in Kent, and also near Weymouth. We have several wild kinds of medick in our fields, and on our way-sides. They are all pea-shaped blossoms, remarkable after flowering, for their broad flat sickle-shaped pods, in some species twisted spirally. The flower of the sea-shore medick is like those of most of the genus, yellow; though our common lucerne, which is a species of this tribe, has pale purple blossoms. The French call this Foin de Bourgogne; it was highly extolled by the Roman writers as a good plant for fodder, and is grown both in this and in continental countries. Another of the tribe, called the Moon Medick, was the Cytisus of the ancient writers. It grew in the country of the Medes, and hence probably we derive the name Medick.

The Cotton Weed (Diotis maritima) is common enough on some of our sandy shores in the east or south-east of England, though not sufficiently general to be much known to any but botanists. It is an autumn flower, and one which many would overlook, for its little yellow blossoms are almost hidden by the flower-cup. It well deserves its English name, for it is really covered with a cottony down. Hence Linnæus called the flower Filago, because it was enveloped with a delicate thread, fila.

The Sea-wormwood (Artemisia maritima) grows along the shore and on the salt marshes in its neighbourhood, and is bitter enough to remind us of the Scripture expression, which marked this as the most bitter of plants. It has in one variety

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drooping brownish flowers, and in the other erect blossoms, and both varieties may often be found growing together. Like other species of the wormwood, it was formerly much used in medicine, and a superstitious veneration attached to it. One kind of wormwood, the Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) of our wayside and waste places, was so much valued by the older botanists, that Pliny told of it that any one who carried it could be hurt by no poisons, nor by any wild beast, neither yet by the sun itself. The Sea-wormwood has downy leaves, and it flowers in September.

A plant with a brighter, gayer flower, adorns the salt marshes on the south and west shores of England and Wales. This is the Golden Samphire, or, as it is sometimes called, Samphire-leaved Fleabane, (Limbarda crithmoides.) It is about one foot high, and bears single flowers on its branches of a bright yellow colour. In some parts of France it is called Limbarde; and there, as with us, its fleshy leaves and stems are taken to the markets to be sold as samphire; but it has none of the aromatic virtues of the plant whose name it resembles.

The Sea-side Feverfew (Pyrethrum maritimum) is common on many parts of the sea-coast, but is probably only a maritime variety of the common Mayweed, so abundant everywhere. It may be distinguished from the sea-side camomile (Anthemis maritima), to which it is very similar, by the faint odour of the latter plant. This camomile, too, has cream-coloured rather than white rays. It is almost peculiar to the sea-coast at Sunderland. The camomile tribe have their name, Anthemis, from the Greek word "a flower,"