OF BRITISH KAFFRARIA. 271 
forming the “bur” adhering to the fleece of any sheep coming 
into contact with it. Great exertions were being made when I 
left the colony in 1861 to exterminate this vile weed, which it 
was thought would greatly deteriorate the staple product of the 
country. 
The Bur Marigold (Bidens bipinnata) is a most troublesome 
and annoying garden weed. It grows in great profusion, and 
reaches the height of several feet. Hardly anything can com- 
pete with it, except that equally vile and irritating plant the 
Bristly Foxtail Grass (Panicum (Setaria) verticillatum). These 
two weeds are enough to break the heart of a gardener; they 
grow and spread with such vigour and rapidity, that it is almost 
impossible to cope with them. The barbed awns on the achenia 
of the Bidens and the bristles of the spikelets of the Setaria alike 
pertinaciously adhere to one’s clothes and are difficult to get rid 
of. The Bidens seemed to me to be bipinnata, but may possibly 
be some other species unknown to me. 
Nicandra physaloides and Solanum nigrum are abundant in 
gardens. The soldiers stationed in the colony often eat the black 
berries of the latter, and they appear to be quite innocuous. 
The well-known “ Cape Gooseberry " (Physalis pubescens) was 
introduced about 40 years since into his garden at King William’s 
Town by the Rev. J. Brownlee. It has spread in a wonderful 
manner, and by the agency of birds has been carried to the beau- 
tiful forests which fill the gorges or “Poorts” in the Buffalo 
Mountains about fourteen miles from King William’s Town, and 
it has firmly established itself all along the lumber-roads made 
through the forest. The Fingoe women collect the smooth yellow 
berries and bring them to the markets for sale. They make a 
delicious preserve. 
The Thorn Apple (Datura Stramonium) is a very disagreeable 
intrusive plant, not only from its heavy disgusting odour, but from 
its rank growth. There are two varieties equally common in gar- 
dens and waste places near houses. One variety has pale green 
stems and white flowers, and the other has the stems deep reddish 
purple and the flowers tinged with lilac. The latter I have seen 
6 feet high in the soldiers’ gardens at Tylden Post, about 70 miles 
north of King William’s Town. It is probably the D. Tatula, Linn. 
Datura, sp. I have not been able to ascertain the name of this 
species. It is a much-branched, strongly smelling annual, about 
3 feet high, covered all over with viscid pubescence, and scurfy. 
Leaves opposite, or a leaf on one side of the stem and a branch 
