MU. AV. WOOLLS ON TliTRODrCEI) PLANTS NEAH SIDNEY. 11 



little Anagallis is as plentiful here as iu Europe. PJfi/salis, or 



tc /^ 



Cape Gooseberry," lias long been known in Australia; and as 

 the fruit is available for jam, it is not to be regretted that it is so 

 well adapted to our climate. N^icandra physaJoides appears in 

 many gardens ; and I am sorry to add that Datura stramonium^ 

 though useful in asthmatical complaints, has occasioned the death 

 of several children w^ho, from time to time, have swallowed the 

 seeds. Solanum nigrum seems to have two varieties here. The 

 one is indigenous ; the other is identical with the European plant, 

 and has probably come here with English seeds. It is remark- 

 able that the children eat the berries of S. nigrtim with impunity. 

 Rumex acetosella is a troublesome w^eed in orchards, but not so 

 injurious as Cypertcs hydra, which is occasioning much incon- 

 venience to gardeners in Sidney. The late Mr. W. S. Macleay, 

 F.L.S., assured me that he had tried every expedient to remove 

 the w^eed, but without success, I fear that, unless some means of 

 eradicating it can be devised, many gardens will be ruined; for it 

 seems to outgrow everything else. At first it did not extend 

 beyond the neighbourhood of Sidney, but within the last ten 

 years it has established itself in Parramatta and some of the in- 

 land towns. A pretty little Sisyrinehitim {S.micranthum) is very 

 plentiful in our fields hei'e in the spring. This has sometimes 

 been mistaken for Brown's Henealmia pulchelJa^ a plant which I 

 have never yet seen. There is on the Mittagoug range a small 

 variety of B. paniculatUy which perhaps may be allied to it. I 

 am inclined to think, however, that the true R. pulchella is a 

 New Zealand plant, and not indigenous here. "With respect to 

 the introduced grasses I feel some difficulty, because, in the early 



days of the colony, many European and Indian grasses we 

 sown in this neighbourhood. It seems to me highly probable 

 that Ilordeum marinum^ Lolitim temulentum and Holcus lanatus^ 

 found their way here accidentally ; but whether Fanicum ci- 

 liatum and Cynodon dactylon are really indigenous or not I am 

 not certain ; for, although described by Brown, they appear only 

 in cultivated land in this part of the colony. 



The various ways in which plants become accidentally accli- 

 matized afford much interest to the observer. In some in- 

 stances the causes can be clearly traced, such as (1) the mixture 

 of other seeds with grass, clover, and garden herbs, (2) tlie use 

 of different weeds, cither wholly or in part, in packing-cases, 

 (3) the tenacity with which the seed-vessels of some plants ad- 

 here to the manes and tails of horses, (-4) the presence of seeds 



