ALIEN PLANTS. 

 By the Eev. W. W. Spicee, M.A., F.R.M.S. 



[Bead Sth May, 1877.] 



The catalogue accompanying this paper includes all those members 

 of the Tasmanian Flora which come under Hewett C. Watson's 

 designation of Aliens. This is a happily conceived title, first 

 instituted by that veteran botanist ; and it was intended by him to 

 embrace such species as have been introduced either by accident or 

 design, and which have maintained their ground more or less firmly 

 in their adopted country. I also include a few plants which, in 

 Mr. Watson's more extended vocabulary, would probably be named 

 by him waifs, strays, and casuals ; but the number of these is so 

 small that I have thought it better to bring them all under the 

 general designation of Aliens. 



In speaking of an introduced plant as an Alien it should be borne 

 in mind that cultivated plants are not intended, so long astheyremain 

 under cultivation ; for the simple reason that they owe their con- 

 tinued existence (not to any struggle for life on their part, nor to 

 any special adaptability they may possess to found a new race in a 

 new home), but to the care of the cultivator. Consequently, they 

 can never, so long as they are under his care, influence the character 

 of the native flora, or interfere with the progress and distribution of 

 indigenous species. An alien plant, pure and simple, is one which, 

 to whatever cause it may owe its origin, has either now, or from its 

 first introduction, ceased to depend upon man, and has set up on its 

 own account. 



As far as I have been able to ascertain, Tasmanian aliens may be 

 reckoned at 162 distinct species, with some 13 varieties, included in 

 119 genera. In adopting these numbers, I have not been guided by 

 hearsay evidence, but have seen and examined living specimens of 

 all with the exception of 21, which have not come under my obser- 

 vation, but to which I have attached the initials N.V. These, 

 however, I give on the authority of Baron von Miiller, Bentham and 

 Hooker. I hope therefore, that the list given is a tolerably correct 

 one up to the present date, and may be of benefit at a future day, 

 when the distinction between aliens and natives has been either 

 lost or considerably weakened by lapse of time. 



In the year 1860 Hooker published in his great work on the Flora 

 of Tasmania, a list of plants naturalised in the Australian Colonies, 

 chiefly, however, in the neighbourhood of Melbourne. Of these 24 

 only are noted either as occurring in Tasmania or as ubiquitous, 

 that is to say, such as are likely to be found in every part of the 

 world. 58 more of Hooker's species can now be included in a 

 catalogue of our aliens, from which it may be inferred, that 80 species 

 (or one half more) have made their appearance in this island, since 

 the publication of Hooker's work. Of the 82 named by him, I have 

 been able to confirm the presence of all but 11. 



The same illustrious author observes in the course of some 

 introductory remarks ; "It would be interesting to discover the 

 date and particulars under which these plants were introduced, and 

 so to register their increase and migrations as to afibrd to succeed- 

 ing observers the means of comparing their future condition 



