332 WANDSWORTH PLANTS* [Novembev, 



and three miles from Kew, the Royal establishment. Hence it 

 may be inferred that the plants fomid at Wandsworth were not 

 brought hither from either of these establishments. They were 

 mostly unknown at both these places. 



Again, they did not originate on ballast-heaps, because there 

 are no such heaps in all these parts. Lighters discharged their 

 cargoes, but they threw out no ballast. 



The proprietors of the ground and of the adjoining erections, 

 have been for some years encroaching on the river ; and to fill up 

 the ancient channel and shore, they have shot much earth and 

 rubbish into the swampy part. The material here shot was ob- 

 tained from gardens and from old houses pulled down to make 

 room for the extension of dwelling-houses and cottages. It was 

 principally on this newly deposited earth that the plants grew. 



Quantities of timber have always been put here, and during 

 the extension of the Lambeth Water Company's works, their 

 pipes were also laid down on this ground. Many of the plants 

 enumerated, such as the Sisymbria, the Lepidia, the Centaureas, 

 and other kinds, that love a dry soil, grow, or grew, near the 

 timber-logs. Several grew close to the water, viz. the Trefoils, 

 the Umbellifers, and the Lythrum hyssopifolium ; whilst on the 

 fresh loose soil between the water and the hardened portions of 

 the place, myriads of such things as Lathyrus Aphaca, Asperugo 

 procumbens, Melilotus parviflora, Eruca sativa, Sinapides of 

 several sorts, and many others, flourished luxuriantly. Only a 

 small proportion of the whole of the exotic and reputed British 

 species propagated themselves, or reproduced themselves by per- 

 fecting seeds. Some did, and they are expressly mentioned in 

 the remarks which follow the list. 



It would be ridiculous to speculate on the mode or means of 

 their introduction ; only negatively it may be noted, that their 

 seeds were not conveyed on the " wings of the wind," nor in 

 currents, nor on the hairy hides of beasts, nor in the stomachs of 

 birds, nor in the clothes of people, nor in ballast, as already 

 stated ; also, they are not escapes from cultivation. 



The first of these alien plants observed was Melilotus jjarviflora, 

 which is only beginning to gain a footing in the few bits of cul- 

 tivated ground still remaining between Battersea and Wands- 

 worth. Several others were noticed, among which Asperula ar^ 

 vensiSj Plantago Lagopus, P. arenaria, Trifolium resupinatum, Le^ 



