PLANT INHABITANTS OF NOB HILL, SAN FRANCISCO. 63 



on Washington and Jones Streets, where different inclines of exposed 

 strata show, how mountains are made, and the washing down of 

 rocks and earth in rainy weather indicates, how mountains are 

 leveled; but most of them have been wafted to their present home 

 by the winds or transported in various ways through the agency of 

 animals. They are plants, that have shown ability to maintain 

 themselves in any environment, to spread rapidly and persist. 

 Most of them are cosmopolitan. In the list of sixty-four species, 

 fifty-five are foreigners, only six are peculiar to the Pacific Coast, 

 two are natives also of the Rocky Mountain region, and one is 

 found in Mexico. 



The commonest of all is a tiny delicate composite, that has come 

 all the way from New Zealand and Australia. It is in bloom the 

 first and is most persistent throughout the entire year^ and advances 

 into the busiest streets. This little plant has finely-cut leaves and 

 small button-like heads of pale green flowers. It is known as 

 Cotula australis, and is a sister of C. coronopifolia, the common plant, 

 that grows near water and is popularly called "Brass-buttons." 



Among the sixty-four one weed appears, that California has fur- 

 nished to the civilized world. This is a composite similar in appear- 

 ance to the mayweed or dog-fennel but lacking the white rays. It 

 is known botanically as Matricaria discoidea. The early Spanish 

 inhabitants named it "Manzanilla," from the order of ripe apples 

 peculiar to its foliage and flowers. 



The true Californian plants, those that have been content to 

 remain at home and have never yet been called weeds, were repre- 

 sented by very few specimens of each and seemed lost amid the 

 numerous foreigners. It was as if the neighboring hills, where 

 primeval conditions to some extent still reigned, had sent these 

 down as messengers to see whether amid the luxuriant vegetation 

 below, there was not a laud teeming with milk and honey for their 

 children. 



This vegetation, springing up in the very heart of civilization on 

 public roads where the cobble-stones are laid as closely as possible, 

 entirely spontaneous within a few years, indicates by its cosmopolitan 

 character the final effects of civilization. The tendency is to reduce 

 mankind as well as plants to one dead level. In time, the tribes 

 and races that persist in their individuality will either become 



