30 ON SOME OF THE INTRODUCED PLANTS OF QUEENSLAND, 



abundant all round Port Jackson. Its abundance of showy 

 flowers all the year round is a poor compensation for the good 

 land it encroaches upon. But the Buenos Ayres verbena ( V m 

 honariensis, Linn.,) is a far more troublesome weed in cultivation, 

 and has spread to a greater extent along creeks, &c, in fact 

 everywhere where the land is moist and rich. It grows to a height 

 of 8 and 10 feet, and as it is not eaten by stock has a fair chance 

 of covering the country. It is common enough in New South 

 "Wales, and is becoming abundant on the banks of the Nepean 

 River. There is one more member of the order, a garden species 

 of verbena, which is met with here and there along the Brisbane 

 River in large patches. This is V. venom, Grill, which also comes 

 from Buenos Ayres. Few of the garden species surpass it in 

 beauty, and should it get a fair start few will surpass it as a weed 

 on account of its running wiry roots, every small piece of which 

 •f left in the ground infallibly produces a plant. 



In the order Asclepiadidae, we have a notable visitor, named 

 by the farmers Red Head. This is Asclepias curassmica, Linn., 

 from the West Indies. It is a visitor which has long outstayed 

 its welcome, and become a perfect nuisance. Nothing seems to 

 feed on it except an aphis, which will not kill it, and a butterfly 

 which they say has been introduced with it, the Danais erippus. 

 It has very inconveniently overrun the whole colony. The silky 

 tuft of hair around the seed provides a means for its travelling 

 very far in dry weather. I may remark that the closely allied 

 plant, Gomphocarpus fruticosus, R. Brown, or wild cotton, has been 

 introduced here, but has never established itself on our pastures. 

 It was brought from Africa to South Australia, where it has 

 become perfectly naturalized. It is not troublesome, and is a 

 shrub, with very elegant white flowers. 



Amongst the Dogbanes or Apocyneee, we have the shrubby 

 Perrywinkle, or Old Maid, as it is called in India. This is the 

 Vinca rosea, Linn. It is a very common weed on refuse heaps 



