86 Indigenousness and Distinctness 



1st, To such plants as ought to be entirely excluded from 

 our flora (°). 



2dly, To such as have evidently been introduced by the 

 agency of man, but are now strictly naturalised (*). 



3dly, To such as may be suspected of having been originally 

 introduced by the same means (f). 



4thly, To those plants usually considered as distinct spe- 

 cies, but which there is reason for supposing may be merely 

 varieties, 



1. Plants to be rejected from our Flora. — It seems hardly 

 correct to include in our lists, even as naturalised species, 

 such as are only occasionally to be met with on heaps of 

 manure, or among rubbish which has been the outcast of a 

 garden. These plants, of acknowledged exotic origin, are 

 for the most part annuals, and seldom occur above once or 

 twice on the spots where they have been observed. The 

 Datura Stramonium and ^marantus jBlitum may be in- 

 stanced as plants of this kind. If any one, however, thinks 

 it desirable that these plants should be noticed in our British 

 flora, they might be placed in an appendix, distinct from the 

 species which are allowed to be indigenous or naturalised. 



There are several species which, it is presumed, have 

 been admitted into our flora in mistake for some peculiar varie- 

 ties of other species, with which they have been confounded. 

 The Papaver nudicaule, and .Ledum palustre, still retain their 

 places in our lists, though, I believe, they will be omitted in 

 the next edition of the British Flora, as Dr. Hooker lately in- 

 formed me that he was now satisfied that a stunted specimen 

 of Meconopsis cambrica had been mistaken for the former 

 species, and that the evidence for the latter was equally 

 questionable. 



2. The naturalised Species. — As it would be certainly 

 improper to exclude those plants from our flora which have 

 become strictly naturalised in our own country, and now form 

 part and parcel of the wild flowers of our fields and hedges, 

 it is perhaps the most convenient mode to register them con- 

 tinuously with the indigenous species, and merely to denote 

 them by the usual mark (*). When a species is considered 

 to be indigenous in one district, but merely naturalised in 

 some other part of the country, this mark may be appended 

 to the names of the places where it has been thus introduced. 



There are certain species which are only to be met with in 

 one or two spots of some cultivated districts, and under cir- 

 cumstances where no reasonable doubt can be entertained of 

 their having been originally introduced by agricultural pro- 

 duce. These plants, which are mostly annuals, are continually 

 disappearing and reappearing, according to the nature of the 



