:2.^o 



The tendency of plaiits to escape from their first environments 

 is illustrated by some of our cultivated flowers. The seeds are 

 widely dispersed; they take root by the wayside or in fields, a ftd 

 every season travel farther from their original home. At length 

 they grow among the native flowers with the appearance of an in- 

 digenous plant. I found a seemingly new species once in a walk 

 along the Pompton fields {New fersey). It was a pretty crimson 

 flower of the Compositae, and as I could not find any jnention of it 

 in the Manual {an old edition of Gray), I plumed myself on being 

 a discoverer, with all the pride of an amateur astronomer who 

 locates a new asteroid. 



My pretty flower was only an oyster-plant " escaped from gar- 

 dens." 



In this chapter a fezu of these waiiderers are grouped. 



