THE HOOD
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in water, it will be found to consist of the matted algal filaments, with soil held in the interstices; and if it be kept moist under a bell-glass, the filaments will emerge like a blue-green velvet on the surface.
   The Hood is a crater-shaped sand-hill covered with Psamma, Carex arenaria, and in places with the glaucous, tufted, and rather rigid Corynephorus canescens—this last a characteristic East Anglian seaside grass. The general flora of the Hood is richer than that of either the Long Hills or Headland, in consequence, doubtless, of its greater age. In the summer of 1910 it was accidentally burnt over, but the grasses quickly recovered, and no ill effects supervened.
   The Hood stands on a complex of dormant shingle hooks, parts of some of which are exposed on the eastern side. The surface pebbles on their crests show a rich covering of lichens, Buellia colludens (black) and Physcia parietina (orange) being the principal species. In the centre of the Hood is a little bay reached by the highest spring tides, and in this a tiny Juncus maritimus marsh—the only example on Blakeney Point itself.
   Lying due south of the Hood, and about a quarter of a mile distant in the centre of the Horn Sands, is a newly-developed marsh known as the Samphire Marsh, for it is here especially that the people from the mainland come to collect the Marsh Samphire (Salicornia) for pickling (Plate XXV, upper picture).
   Up to 1910 this marsh bore only a sprinkling of Salicornias and a few Asters, but during the last few years it has advanced very rapidly indeed, the Salicornias now forming a dense carpet, whilst the Asters are all over the place. Two species of annual Salicornia are present, S. annua and S. dolichostachya. At the earlier date the latter was the more abundant, and this is the species which the Samphire gatherers especially collected. It is distinguished by its long tapering flowering spikes. In 1916, 5. dolichostachya had become relatively less abundant, but it would be premature to say that this is the direct result of overpicking, although in view of the plant being an annual the explanation is plausible. It is possible, of course, that this species flourishes best in the early stages of colonization, and