32 ON SOME OF THE INTRODUCED PLANTS OP QUEENSLAND, 



Cassia Icevigata, Willdenow, which has escaped from our gardens. 

 This can scarcely be look upon as a troublesome weed, but rather 

 an elegant shrub. This is not the case with another member of 

 the same sub-order, Ccesalp'mia sepiaria, E,oxb , which lias quite 

 overrun some of the river and creek scrubs, making them quite 

 impenetrable. It was originally introduced from India for the 

 purpose of planting for hedges. I can hardly understand how it 

 can answer, as its wonderful rambling habit seems to me to make 

 it quite unfit for such, a purpose. 



Of our cultivated fodder plants we have none naturalized. 

 This is a curious fact, since lucerne and clover thrive well, and 

 produce good crops, and the seeds must to a certain extent be 

 spread about by the animals that feed upon them. The only 

 allied plants met with at large and common throughout the colony 

 are the small-flowered Mellilot (Melilotm pa/rviflora, Desf ) and 

 Medicago denticulata, Willd. The latter is spread throughout all 

 the colonies, and goes by the name of yellow clover or native 

 clover. It is considered a real pest in the wool-growing districts. 

 The pod curls round into a disk set with small hooked spines, 

 making it an abundant and formidable burr, almost as bad for 

 the fleece as the celebrated weed which takes its name from 

 Bathurst. 



Amongst the vetches we have Vicia saliva, Linn., and V. hirsuta 

 Koch., which, though common as garden weeds, have not spread 

 much into the pasture. 



The large yellow poppy-like flower, with prickly grey-green 

 leaves, almost like a thistle Argemone mexicana, Tournefort), is 

 fast spreading over the colony. It is quite as bad as the thistle 

 on the banks of the Hunter Eiver in New South Wales. There 

 it chooses rich grounds near creeks and rivers, while in Queensland 

 it prefers a sandy soil, or about the vicinity of wells, where it 

 must be acknowledged it adds a beauty to the scenery. The 

 Spaniards calls it Figo del inferno, or figs of hell, because of the 



