VOL. I. | Naturalized Plants. 125 
origin, it has in many cases passed from that category, and has be- 
come thoroughly naturalized. 
Of the plantains, P/antago minor is everywhere present in situa- 
tions affected by this common weed, as gardens, walks and road-— 
sides in sufficiently damp places. . /anceolafa is known only from 
the streets of San Bernardino, where it is abundant in black adobe 
soil. 
A few common weeds of cultivation need only brief enumeration. 
Such are the Shepherd’s Purse, usually the first flower of winter, 
and the universal Purslane, with the equally prevalent Amaranths, 
A. alba and A. retroflexa. In my own neighborhood A. chloro- 
stachys is now nearly as abundant, but not many years ago was 
quite rare, showing that it is a late comer. It is especially trouble- 
some in orchards, germinating after the cultivation is mostly com- 
pk ted, but by autumn attaining a rank growth of eight feet or more. 
The last two species are thought to be native in Mexico, and there 
is some uncertainty as to the limit to the north, where they are 
found only as exotics. Such is undoubtedly their position here, as 
they are strictly confined to cultivated districts. 
‘With them grows Chenopodium ambrosioides, but more frequent- 
ly in waste places and neglected corners, in which situation it is 
often accompanied by C. murale. In shaded but drier places Ur- 
tica urens abounds in early spring, often in company with chick- 
weed, Sfel/laria media, both plants growing not only in cultivated 
neighborhoods but well up in the cafions of the foothills. Malva 
borealis is universal in damp soils, where it grows to great size and 
luxuriance throughout the year. In a dwarf form it is scarcely less 
common in drier soils, where it does not outlast the rainy season. 
The leaves exhibit a distinct heliotropism, which is especially no- 
ticeable in the ranker growth, Almost equally abundant in colder 
soils, especially if slightly alkaline, is the sour clover, Melilotus Indi- 
ca, All.* It has considerable value for pasturage, although not 
readily eaten by animals when other green forage is obtainable. 
Water cress, Nasturtium officinale, chokes up streams everywhere, 
even to the mountains and the borders of the deserts, with such 
abundance and universality as to give color to the doubts that have 
recently been expressed as to its being an introduced species. 
*M. parviflora Less. of the Bot. Cal. 
