58 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC. 



looks SO high and spreading and is like a giant compared with the 

 European plant and not half as pretty. 



Ci/jwnis rotundua, the hateful Nutgrass, is to be found all 

 over the world. It occurred in Australia very likely before the 

 arrival of the white settlers. Other weeds followed the footsteps 

 of men all over the globe. The New Zealand spinach (Tetrafpnia 

 e.vpansa) is looked up m as a culinary vegetable in many poor 

 countries, though it contains some saponin and is not 

 altogether harmless. The black nightsha le, in spite of its 

 solanin, is boiled and eaten like spinach in Peru. Portulacca 

 oleracea, the pigweed, is sold in the markets of North Germany 

 and Scandinavia. The yellow wood-sorrel {O.ralia cornicuiata) 

 has run all over the world. Many weeds have been imported, 

 especially to Australia, and did not propagate much in another 

 country. I have met with many of them in their old home. 

 Some plants have followed the railway line. The evening 

 primrose {(Knothera biennis) appears wherever a train runs ; like 

 the yellow wood-sorrel it was introduced from America into 

 Europe as a garden plant. The Canadian fleabane {Kritjeron 

 canadensc) is also a railway line plant. I saw it on the Tokaido 

 line in Japan. 



Some of our worst weeds came out as pot plants or useful 

 and ornamental plants. Governor Phillip committed a great 

 mistake by importing the prickly pear from Brazil. It was 

 introduced for the sake of its fruit, and has covered, as a trouble- 

 some weed, many square miles in Australia, but has proved to 

 be of some value in times of drought. The sensitive plant 

 {Mimosa pudica), a native of South America, an interesting little 

 wonder and imported as such, became a troublesome spinous 

 weed in some gardens. The devil's fig {Arf/emonc mexicana), a 

 poisonous, prickly, but very nice looking poppy with yellow 

 flowers, came as a garden plant, and is now a weed on the 

 Brisbane river, but it bas not spread much to other parts of 

 Queensland- On the Turon river, in New South Wales, it covers 

 many square miles, whereas it behaves quite decently in Mexicoi 

 its native habitat. The poke weed or inkberry [Phytolacca 

 octandra) was imported from America for the dying properties of 

 the fruit, but it has spread on the upper Logan and Albert, 

 occupying the whole banks of these rivers. So does the bad 

 smelling weed [Tagetes glandulifera), brought from America as a 

 garden plant and a brother of the French marigold (Tagetes 

 patula). The ladies' thistle {SiUjbum mariamim), of South Europe, 



