THE NATURALISED PLANTS. 135 



From what has gone before it must not be inferred that the accli- 

 matised vegetation has no esthetic value. Highly cultivated lands, 

 with their green meadows, waving grain, and stately plantations of 

 foreign trees, are delightful. The gorse, noxious weed though it may 

 be proclaimed, is a glory when its sheets of gold dazzle the eye. The 

 green lines of self -planted willows on many a river-bank ; the yellow 

 lupin of the dunes ; blue periwinkles by the roadside ; white arum 

 lilies on wet ground in the north ; stately mulleins on montane river- 

 beds these and many more are well worthy of admiration. 



A rather curious fact that seems to need explanation is the absence 

 of those hedgerow plants that make delightful the lanes of England. 

 It is not that the prettiest of the flowers of the Mother-land are absent, 

 though many appear to think this is the case. Some perhaps are to 

 be seen only in our gardens e.g., the wood-anemone, the wild hyacinth, 

 the lily of the valley, primroses, cowslips, the bluebell of Scotland or 

 harebell, and the daffodil. But the germander speedwell, the herb- 

 robert, deadnettles white and pink, daisies, buttercups, the ragged- 

 robin, the stonecrop, wild roses, blackberries, the honeysuckle, the 

 forget-me-not, the toadflax, the bird's-foot trefoil, the dog-daisy, the 

 bugloss. and the foxglove, to mention only a few British plants, 

 are now wild in various places. The fact is, our hedges are frequently 

 of gorse, a plant which smothers out most herbs with which it comes 

 in contact. Introduced grasses also grow with a vigour unknown in 

 Europe, and will not permit such plants as the primrose to become 

 established. Cattle, too, graze by the roadside. In short, the con- 

 ditions are quite different from those afforded by the mixed hedges 

 of the Old Land. 



No further details can be given regarding individual acclimatised 

 plants. A full list is given in Cheeseman's excellent Flora (pp. 1063 

 to 1093), and descriptions of most may be found in any British Flora. 

 For those living in settled parts of the Dominion, where the indigenous 

 plants are scarce, the introduced species will afford much material 

 for profitable study, the purpose of which should be not to find their 

 names merely, but to continue such observations as this and previous 

 chapters may have suggested. 



It mav be asked whether there mav not be introduced some dav 



*/ J / 



other plants which might become dangerous pests. So far as animals 

 are concerned, the experience of New Zealand towards acclimatisa- 

 tion has not been encouraging, and it is wise to consider long and care- 



10 Plants. 



