Thomson. — Plant-acclimatisation in Neiv Zealand. 317 



geranium, fennel, parsnip, and other garden plants are common 

 in waste ground about Napier, Auckland, and other towns, par- 

 ticularly in the North Island. Such plants are either fertilised 

 bv hive-bees or by various kinds of flies, or are perfectly self- 

 fertile. In the Bay of Islands and elsewhere in the North I 

 have noticed the American aloe (Agave americana) and the 

 common flag-lily (Iris germanica) growing on the sites of 

 abandoned gardens. At Kerikeri I saw, in 1884, groves of 

 wattles (probably Acacia decurrens, var. dealbata), and these 

 apparently were spreading in all directions ; and the late 

 Mr. Kirk recorded in 1872* that Bobmia pseudacacia was 

 similarly establishing itself in a grove on the Auckland-Drury 

 Railway. 



In our own southern portion of the colony such garden 

 escapes occur freely, though not to the same extent as in the 

 warmer climate of the North Island ; yet of late years they 

 have increased from a new and recently introduced cause. 

 Foxgloves, musk, monkey-flowers (Mimulus lutcus, var.), 

 mullein, and a few other flowers have run wild in many 

 localities, but they do not show any tendency to become 

 generally distributed. On the other hand, the great increase 

 in number of our imported fruit-eating birds (blackbirds and 

 thrushes) during the last twenty years has led to a remark- 

 able increase and a much wider distribution of plants bear- 

 ing succulent fruits. Thus, the elderberry has become a 

 nuisance in our Town Belt, while to a less extent wild roses, 

 brambles, raspberries, and gooseberries are spreading, and 

 this always in the neighbourhood of bush- or scrub-covered 

 land. Similarly, I find such plants as Cape fuchsia (Ley- 

 cesteria formosa), holly, barberry, and mountain-ash (and the 

 list might easily be extended) appearing not only in various 

 parts of my garden, but also in places at some distance from 

 it. In all the cases mentioned above it is noteworthy that 

 the flowers are visited, and almost certainly fertilised, by bees 

 and flies, and are not dependent on any specialised form of 

 insect for their seeding. It may be accepted as a general rule 

 that cultivated plants are not well fitted to compete unaided 

 in the hard and complex struggle for existence against wild 

 species. Hence we do not find them holding their own in the 

 open, except in a few cases. 



(3.) In regard to the introduction of naturalised plants by 

 accidental means — viz., along with seeds, hay, straw, &c, in 

 the soil surrounding other introduced plants, by animals, in 

 ballast of ships, or in any other chance manner — this is 

 certainly the source or mode in which by far the greatest 

 number of such aliens have come to these Islands. Agricul- 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. ii., p. 137. 



