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changed. Ina few days the hills show green with a carpet of 
clover (Alfilwree) and flowers rather than of grass; the latter, 
though in many places abundant, cannot be considered a feature 
of the indigenous flora. 
Among the first to appear are Brassica nigra and B. campestris. 
The former species is one of the greatest pests of cultivation, and 
more detrimental to growing crops here than its better known 
relative sinapis arvensis (wild mustard) is to those of the British 
farmer. In the moist lands and grain fields, where it has secured 
a foothold, it grows most luxuriantly to a height of four to eight 
feet or more, with stems as thick as a walking cane, and forming 
with its interlacing branches thickets as impenetrable as brush- 
wood. Popularly it is said to have been introduced at an early 
date by the Spanish monks. Whether this is really so or not I 
cannot authenticate, as the expression itself is very much akin 
to that of “came over with the Conqueror,” and is subject, I fear, 
to like abuse. However introduced, its natural fertility, aided by 
the blackbirds and finches, has spread it over the length and 
breadth of the country. 
The plantain, “the white man’s foot,” as the Indian calls it, 
is but casually represented, but that more typical representative 
of civilisation, the shepherd’s purse, Capsella bursa pastoris, is 
here in abundance. In Britain one is too apt to forget that it is 
an introduction there, having followed civilisation from the Medi- 
terrean shores, and it seems but fitting it should continue the 
Saxon’s march in the peaceful settlement of the Western Con- 
tinent. The common water cress, Nastwrtiwm officinale, and 
candytuft, Jberis amara, escaped from cultivation are well 
established. The medicks are represented by M. denticulata and 
M. sativa (Lucerne, or Alfalfa, as it is here called), and are two 
of the most valuable fodder plants in California. M. denticulata, 
or burr clover, has by natural processes spread over the greater 
part of the lower country, and not only affords maintenance to 
stock in its green state, but also when matured its ripe burrs 
being greedily eaten by horses and sheep as they lie round the 
withered remains of the parent stem. It has one serious draw- 
back, however ; its burrs are the processes for perpetuation of 
the species, and in their attempts to spread themselves they get 
inextricably mixed among the coats of horses and sheep, and 
nothing short of removing the hair or fleece will suffice to clear 
1d 
