126 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE NATURALISED PLANTS. 



Plant colonists Origin of the naturalised plants Method of arrival Statistics 

 -Distribution Definition of term " weed ' Origin of weeds Bracken, 

 manuka, and piripiri as weeds Weeds and human beings The horned 

 poppy and marram-grass History of a pasture Microscopic weeds A 

 Chatham Island orchard The struggle between native and introduced plants 

 -Equipment of aggressive species Origin of a gum forest Plant-sanc- 

 tuaries Esthetic value of acclimatised plants Hedgerow plants Likeli- 

 hood of new weeds Eradication of native species. 



Ix the preceding' chapters only the native plants, the true New Zea- 

 land aborigines, have been considered. But, besides these, a host of 

 foreigners of colonists, if you will have overrun the land. These 

 have not merely settled down side by side with their antipodean 

 relatives, but in not a few instances have driven them from the soil. 

 That characteristic stamp which the native vegetation gives to the 

 New Zealand landscape has frequently disappeared, and another- 

 almost English in appearance has come in its stead. Newcomers 

 from the Motherland look in vain near most of the cities for any sign 

 of a foreign land, and. judging from the plant- covering alone, might 

 well believe themselves back in Britain. A full account of this plant 

 colonisation and of the bitter struggle between the invaders and indi- 

 genous species would be an important contribution to science ; but it 

 can never be written, since records as to the arrival of most of the 

 plants or their wanderings in their new home are wanting. Here only 

 certain general principles can be touched upon and a few illustrative 

 details cited- 



Already so widely spread and so abundant are many of the species 

 that a beginner in the study of the New Zealand flora could not pos- 

 sibly tell amongst the specimens he might collect which were indigenous 

 and which introduced. Even experts cannot agree as to the nativity 

 of certain species, and discussions have taken place, as in the case of 

 the wireweed (Polygonum avicularc}. 



The naturalised plants have come from many lands, but by far 

 the greater part are, as in the analogous case of the human colonists, 



