laces where they could
not grow before.

Quite near to the sea we shall find a very strange little plant. It has
no leaves, only fleshy, jointed stems. It is known as the Glass-wort,
being full of a substance useful in making glass. It belongs to a family
which seems to delight in deserts and salty soil! They have all sorts of
dodges to help them live in such places. For instance, their leaves are
fleshy. Squeeze them, and they are like wet, juicy fruit.

The Sea Beet is also a member of this family. The Red Beet, as well as
the Mangel-wurzel, we owe to this humble seaside plant. Most of our
sugar comes from the Sugar-beet.

Another useful plant is the Sea Cabbage, which grows on some parts of
our sea coast. It is rather a ragged, tough kind of Cabbage, and perhaps
you would not choose it for your dinner-table. We have more tempting
sorts in our gardens--Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Cauliflower, but long,
long ago the wild seaside cabbage was the only one growing. Men found it
to be eatable, and began to plant it near their huts or caves. From that
small beginning all our garden cabbages have come.

Walking a little farther from the sea, we leave the sand and come to
stones, rocks and cliffs. We pass a pretty plant, the Sea Lavender, and
another, the Sea Stock. They love best the sandy, muddy parts of the
shore. Their lilac flowers look bright and pretty. Coming to the rocky
places, we find tufts of the flower known as Sea Pink or Thrift. Its
leaves are like grass, and its flowers form a round pink bundle at the
top of a bare stalk.

There are many tufts of Thrift growing among the rocks; and each tuft
has a number of pink flowers. In some places you could step from one
tuft to another for several miles. Bare and ugly stretches of coast are
made into a gay garden by this lovely flower.

Here and there on the rocks is a plant with large yellow blossoms--the
Yellow Horned Poppy. It is a handsome plant, and you are surprised to
see such fine flowers among dry shingle, sand, or rock; but the Horned
Poppy is well able to stand the salt spray and storms of its favourite
home. When the petals have dropped, a green seed-pod is left. It is very
long--nearly twice as long as this page and looks much more like a stem
than a seed-pod.

Sometimes this seaside poppy is seen growing high up the face of the
cliff, where only the jackdaw and sea-birds can find a footing; and many
another plant may be seen there too. The cliffs ar