INTRODUCED PLANTS IN THE NORTHERN 
TERRITORY. 
By Maurice Ho.rrzs, F.LS. 
[Read November 3, 1891.] 
The object of my paper is only to record those plants which in 
the Northern Territory have, up to date, escaped from cultivation, 
or which have been introduced unintentionally. Some of them 
have already identified themselves so thoroughly with their new 
home that a collector, not conversant with their history, will un- 
hesitatingly consider them as part of the indigenous flora. Ina 
few instances plants, naturally wild in North Australia, have 
been introduced in a cultivated form, and these cultivated plants, 
escaped from cultivation, may mislead the collector considerably. 
In most cases the plants enumerated have been introduced 
during my residence in the Territory ; others I have seen, so to 
say, in their infancy, and a few may be said to be, for me, pre- 
historic. Of these latter, two, Tamarindus Indicus, Lin., and 
Hyptis suaveolens, Poit., have been included in the Flora Aus- 
traliensis, but I fear I must, nevertheless, deny them the right 
to be called truly indigenous. Yamarindus Indicus is only to 
be found on the North Coast, at places which have been visited 
by Malay-prows for many years past, and as the fruit of the 
tamarind forms part of the daily food of the Malays, there can 
be no doubt that this plant has been introduced by them. 
fyptis suaveolens was found by Leichhardt at Port Essington, and 
is found there only within a limited radius of the old settlement, 
while at Port Darwin, where it was introduced about 20 years 
ago by a Mr. Schmidt, from Timor, I have been able to watch 
its spread in the wake of settlement. 
I come now to the other plants, introduced by the old settlers 
at Port Essington. They are :— 
Capsicum frutescens, Lin. 
Moringa pterygosperma, Gaertn. 
Manarfera Indica, Lin. 
Guazuma tomentosa, H. & B. 
I may say that other plants introduced here may have escaped 
my observation. 
Next we come to those plants introduced within the last 20 
years. These are comparatively numerous, and some of them 
have already overrun the country to such an extent as to become 
troublesome pests. Some of them, it is true, are useful fodder 
