29f> 
WEEDS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 
Divisions. 
Polypetalous Exogenous Plants . . 
Monopetalous Exogenous Plants . . 
Apctalous Exogenous Plants . . . 
Gymnospermous Exogenous Plants . 
Endogenous Plants 
Cryptogamous Plants 
Total 
Number of 
Species in 
Chapman's 
c Flora.' 
768 
935 
236 
20 
655 
70 
268i< 
Of these 
in 
Venezuela. 
Per Cent, 
81 
90 
36 

60 
16 
283 
1055 
9'63 
15-25 
o- 
916 
22-85 
10*54 
Although the number of plants common to both Floras is consider- 
able, the comparison does not give any peculiar result. Most of the 
species are plants which have a wide geographical range in America, 
many of them even in the Old World ; a great number are common on 
all the coasts of the warmer parts of America, and some are only natu- 
ralized in both countries. 
WEEDS AND THEIE CHARACTERISTICS 
By Henry TftiMEN, M.B. Lond., F.L.S. 
In a paper lately published in this Journal (Vol. V. p. 195), 1 r. 
Seemann sums up the characteristics of a weed in these words:— 
weed . . . signifies a naturalized herb which has a soft and membrana- 
ceous look, grows fast, propagates its kind with great rapidity, and 
spreads, to the prejudice of endemic or cultivated plants, in places m 
some way or other disturbed by the agency of man 
The extensive acquaintance with the plants of various lands possessec 
by the author of the paper referred to, and the consequent large num- 
ber of facts bearing on the subject at his disposal, renders this view- 
one of considerable interest and importance. 
The general notion, however, entertained of a weed, at all events y 
?? 
non-botanical persons, is a wider one than this, and has for its le.i 
character a qualification other than that of naturalization, on wluc > 
Dr. Seemann strongly insists. This popular signification may 
pretty accurately expressed as follows : — A weed is any plant, irrespa 
In- 
