50 



and on the river banks, but especially on neglected ground it 

 sj^reads with alarming rapidity. About Brisbane it is simply 

 excluding every other vegetation in some places, and each 

 year witnesses its wider extension, and makes it probable that 

 some measures will have to be taken for its destruction. Ifc 

 has found its way into New South Wales, and is not uncom- 

 monly met with around Port Jackson. I have never seen it on 

 the western side of the dividing range. It loves rich soils and 

 those that have been recently under cultivation. Why it should 

 never have spread before now is a difficult problem. I am 

 not aware whether its cultivation was ever attempted, or that 

 any artificial means were adopted to bring it from its natural 

 home in North Australia. There can be no doubt that it 

 possesses a most useful fibre. I have seen specimens prepared 

 from it as fine and glossy almost as silk, and of extraordinary 

 toughness. There is no great difficulty in its preparation, so 

 that in time we may hope to see it utilised. 



Lantaria camera is a showy garden plant which has spread 

 very remarkably in certain places. Around Port Jackson, it 

 has become a complete nuisance, forming dense thickets 

 which render the shores almost unapproachable. As 

 it is always covered with handsome flowers, and its bushes form 

 dark masses of evergreen leaves, it is a very pleasing addition 

 to the rocks and precipices of some of the bays. The effect 

 of its immense overhanging masses of green on some of the 

 shores is very beautiful. On the banks of the Brisbane Eivcr 

 it has spread with equal luxuriance, and has become trouble- 

 some. Two things, however, seem to be conditions for its 

 growth ; these are, very rich soil and plenty of moisture, so it is 

 probable we may not witness any very extensive devcloinnent 

 of the shrub in Australia. From Port Jackson to Port Den- 

 ison it is very well spread along the brackish or saltwater 

 streams. 



On the Brisbane Eiver also, and in many places further 

 north, Ageratum mexicanum or conizoides is widely spread much 

 in the way that thistles are, the flowers of which it resembles. 

 This is a curious instance of an indigenous plant becoming 

 spread through a garden variety. There can be no doubt that 

 the species is indigenous to North Australia, and it is equally 

 certain that it has been introduced to the colony as a garden 

 flower from European descendants, probably of an American 

 stock. It is the introduced variety which has spread and 

 become a weed. Though near Brisbane, whole paddocks may 

 be seen covered with it, yet it cannot as yet be said to have 

 become troublesome. 



Struggling with it and with Lantaria camera we find a weed 

 which is getting an unenviable notoriety all along the west side 



