BY W. WOOLLS, PH.D., F.L.S. 187 



{Paspalum distichum), which the old hands say was unknown in 

 the early days of the colony, and yet this grass is the same as; 

 Brown's P. littorale, which may still be found growing on the 

 shores of Port Jackson, as well as in the Tropical Regions of the 

 New and Old World. Sorghum Ifalapense (Andropogon Hala- 

 pensis) is another grass which presents some difficulty, for whilst 

 Baron Mueller places it amongst the indigenous species of Western 

 Australia, N". S. Wales and Queensland, the settlers on the banks 

 of the Hawkesbury look upon it as a recent importation, and seed 

 of it has been circulated under the name of Panicum spectabile ! 

 There is good reason, therefore, for saying that " the lines of 

 demarcation between truly indigenous and more recently immi- 

 grated plants can no longer in all cases be drawn with precision." 

 It seems almost impossible to decide, indeed, in the case of certain 

 Caryophyllaceous and Cruciferous plants ; for, whilst they are 

 now widely disseminated throughout the colonies, there is no 

 record of them as indigenous in the early days of the colony. Sir 

 J. D. Hooker, writing in 1859, places Poly carport tetraphyllum 

 and Sagina apetala amongst introduced plants, but Baron Mueller, 

 in his recent Census (1883), regards them as common to several 

 parts of Australia. Again Hooker has Porttdaca oleracea in his 

 list of importations, but the Baron, having ascertained that the 

 plant occurs in five Australian colonies, as well as in the arid 

 regions of the north, is forced to the conviction that it is really 

 indigenous. 



It is worthy of remark, that whilst many English plants have 

 become naturalized in Australia, no Australian plant has become 

 naturalized in England. Hooker observes : — " For my own part 

 I am disposed to consider that the three elements of (1) abundant 

 exportation of seed from Europe into Australia for agricultural 

 and horticultural purposes, and scanty export of Australian seed 

 produce to England ; (2) better adaptation of Australia than 

 England to support numerous forms of vegetable life ; and (3), 

 abundance of unoccupied ground in Australia as compared 

 with England, are, combined, all but sufficient to account for the 

 predominance of so many European naturalized plants in Australia, 



