1859] INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 229 



exclaim with the philosopher of old (though his exclamation did 

 not refer to Fungi) , " In his tam parvis atque nullis, quanta 

 ratio^ quanto vis, quam inextricabilis perfectio ! ^' 



Mosshwmford, Jedhv/rgh, N. B. 



INDIGENOUS PLANTS. 



There have been several questions asked and many grave 

 doubts expressed in your Journal upon the subject of indigenous 

 plants ; but I do not find any satisfactory definition of the term, 

 and I therefore repeat the question with the following observa- 

 tions, that I may know the rule to be applied when I look into 

 the history of plants called British. 



1st. Does the title or claim to indigenous depend upon the 

 rule that they have grown in Britain for a period " whereof the 

 memory of man runneth not to the contrary^'? — that is, are all 

 plants indigenous the importation of which has not been within 

 the memory of man ? If not, for what period must a plant exist 

 here to give it a clear title to indigenous ? If this is to be de- 

 fined by length of time, it should be fixed at some particular 

 period, that we may know what plants are included. 



Indigenous, according to its general signification, as applied to 

 persons, means 'native,^ 'born in a country;' and as applied to 

 vegetables, means ' native,' ' produced naturally in a country or 

 climate :' so says Noah Webster. 



If we take this definition as correct, all plants may be said to 

 be natural to a country where they will grow out-of-doors, or pro- 

 duce perfect seed, which seed will also produce plants and seed. 



But if this definition is to be rejected, and such plants are to 

 be admitted as natural which have grown in Britain at a time 

 whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, then 

 we ought to be informed how many of the plants now named in 

 the London Catalogue would be excluded as aliens. 



A list of the names of plants known in Britain during the ear- 

 liest periods, divided according to the Saxon, Roman, and Nor- 

 man eras, would be very interesting, and if possible the num- 

 ber, described as belonging to different counties or divisions of 

 the island, so as to help us to a knowledge of the time of their 

 introduction, and from whence. 



