6o6 



Journal of Agriculture. [8 Oct., 1907. 



THE PROCLAIMED PLANTS OF VICTORIA. 



{CoHtimued from page -^(?S.) 



Alfred J. E'ccart. D.Sc, Ph.D.. F.L.S., Gozwnnnehf Botannt; and 

 J. R. Tovey, Herbarium Assistant. 



The Cape Weed. 



Cryptostemma ealendulaceum, R. Brown. {Composita.) 



A tufted plant, almost stemless. Leaves in a rosette, obovate, usually 

 segmented, three to six inches long, cottony white beneath, glabrous above. 

 Flowers solitary on slender stalks, one to one and a-half inches diameter. 

 Rav-florets yellow, spreading; inner ones tubular, brownish. Achenes 

 woollv. 



An introduction from South Africa. A great pest in pastures as it 

 spreads so easily from its numerous seeds, leaving the ground quite bare 

 on the approach of summer. It can be hoed up before flowering, dried, 

 raked together and burnt. It may be kept under by cultivation or_ by 

 giving the taller grasses free play against it, and avoiding close cropping. 



Proclaimed for the Shire of Poowong and Jeetho, June, 1901. 



GARDEN NOTES. 



/. Cronin. Inspector, Vegetation Diseases Acts. 



The S^weet Pea. 



Sweet, and everlasting peas, are annual and perennial species respec- 

 tively of Lathyrus, a genus of leguminous plants embracing many species- 

 of decorative value as garden plants. Most of the annual species are 

 natives of South Europe and North Africa, the species from which the 

 present garden forms of sweet peas have been raised being Lathyrus 

 odoratus, a native of Sicily. This pea has been in cultivation in gardens 

 for over two hundred years, but its popularity as a valuable garden plant 

 is of comparatively recent date. During the last twenty years a number 

 ot horticulturists ui England and America have made a special study 

 of sweet peas, and bv cross-fertilization and selection have produced 

 varieties of great excellence, the size and form of the blooms and the 

 varied colouring and freedom of flowering in the new varieties arousing 

 a deal of public interest in the plants. The culture of sweet peas has 

 become a feature in most gardens, large and small, the hardiness of the 

 plants, wealth of bloom under fair conditions, ease of culture, and the 

 short period elapsing between the sowing of the seeds and the blooming 

 season being the principal factors in their popularity. The flowers are 

 produced in spring in Victoria, and embrace almost all shades of colour ; 

 the plants thrive under harsh conditions, but like most florists' flowers- 

 respond well to a little attention in the selection of site, soil and 

 manure, and cultivation. 



The everlasting peas — so styled on account of their perennial habit 

 of growth — have been found native in various parts of Europe, Asia, ancE 



