466.] The process of this conversion may be seen in all its stages at various points along the coast of Ceylon.
The margin of land nearest to the water is first taken possession of by a series of littoral plants, which apparently require a large quantity of salt to sustain their vegetation.

These at times are intermixed with others, which, though found further inland, yet flourish in perfection on the shore.

On the northern and north-western coasts the glass worts[1] and salt worts[2] are the first to appear on the newly raised banks, and being provided with penetrating roots, a breakwater is thus early secured, and the drier sand above becomes occupied with creeping plants which in their turn afford shelter to a third and erect class.
[Footnote 1: Salicornia Indica.] [Footnote 2: Salsola Indica.] The Goat's-foot Ipomoea[1], which appears to encircle the world, abounds on these shores, covering the surface to the water's edge with its procumbent branches, which sending down roots from every joint serve to give the bank its first firmness, whilst the profusion of its purple-coloured flowers contrasts strikingly with its dark green foliage.
[Footnote 1: Ipomoea pes-caprae] Along with the Ipomoea grow two species of beans[1] each endowed with a peculiar facility for reproduction, thus consolidating the sands into which they strike; and the moodu-gaeta-kola[2] (literally the "jointed seashore plant,") with pink flowers and thick succulent leaves.
[Footnote 1: The Mooduawara (_Canavalia obtusifolia_), whose flowers have the fragrance of the sweet pea, and _Dolichos luteus_.] [Footnote 2: Hydrophylax maritima.] Another plant which performs an important function in the fertilisation of these arid formations, is the _Spinifex squarrosus_, the "water pink," as it is sometimes called by Europeans.

The seeds of this plant are contained in a circular head, composed of a series of spine-like divisions, which radiate from the stalk in all directions, making the diameter of the whole about eight to nine inches.

When the seeds are mature, and ready for dispersion, these heads become detached from the plant, and are carried by the wind with great velocity along the sands, over the surface of which they are impelled on their elastic spines.