6 



known plants that they may be placed under 

 one or other of the above categories. 



It is a well known fact that as man pierces 

 his way into the wilds certain plants follow 

 his path, and often become a nuisance, and 

 destructive of the native flora; one solitary 

 seed perhaps dropped from his clothing, or 

 shaken out of his baggage, takes to the soil 

 and surroundings. Garden seeds also are apt 

 to introduce some weed which, unnoticed in 

 itsgrowth. suddtMily becomes abundant. This 

 has Ixjen well evidenced in America and Aus- 

 tralia, an example of which may be cited in 

 the common thistle. The common plantain 

 was unknown in America till the advent of 

 the white man, and is called in the Indian 

 language his "footsteps." A most striking 

 evidence of the rapid pmpagation of a plant 

 new to a country is that of the life-plant 

 (Bryophyllun) familiarly known as " Flop- 

 p«n-s," which, originally a native of Asia, was 

 introduced here as a girdim c'liiosity, ami 

 which now covers every old stone wall, dis- 

 used quarry, and uncultivated corner of the 

 islands; a plant that may be styled seedless, 

 but which nature amply provides for in the 

 reproduction of its species by the leaflets at 

 the crenature of the fleshy leaves when de- 

 tached from the parent plant, one leaf alone 

 thus producing a nnmber of new young 

 plants. The Oleander, again, a comparatively 

 recent introduction from the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, may now be said to fairly 

 (K)ver the island, contributing largely to its 

 beauty, but attempts to destroy it or even to 

 minimize its growth seem to give fresh 

 vigour to its reproduction from the root and 

 its seeds with their downy appendages take 

 root wherever they fall. 



Bermuda Botany may thus be recorded 



