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| Its fleshy-fingered leaves
suggest that Rock Samphire is specially adapted to live by
the sea. In 1664 it was being gathered from the cliffs of the Isle
of Wight 'though they buy their sauce with the price of their lives'.
Flowers June to August. |
Seaside Centaury
is an attractive flower, often found in the dunes of the western and
northern coasts of Britain but almost unknown in south and east England.
Flowers July to August. |
Found almost everywhere at sea level around Britain,
Thrift is one of a small number of plants which are equally
at home in the high mountains. The Gaelic name translates as 'beach
wave'. Flowers April to October. |
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| Another of the elite band
of seaside plants with mountain homes, Sea Campion is found
as high as 970 metres in Scotland. It is also interesting in that
it seems to have survived the Ice Ages in Britain. Flowers June to August. |
A beautiful miniature, Dwarf
Pansy is found only on Scilly, the Channel Islands and north-west
France. The flower is only about 5mm across and is found, with luck,
on sandy grassland or dunes. Flowers March to May. |
'Very local and rare', Spotted Rock-rose
is found in a few places in north-west Wales, western Ireland, and
the Channel Islands. It likes open maritime heath, a threatened habitat.
Flowers April to August. |