12 THE WEEDS OF IvEW SOUTH WALES. 



From time to time firms advertise their goods by means of printed thin 

 card butterflies, the body of which is a burr. In 1910 the burr was the 

 Burdock (Arctium Lappa) see Agricultural Gazette for 1910, p. 730. There 

 was a revival in 1917, the Burdock burr (a very bad burr) in Queensland 

 being used; the Bathurst Burr (Xanthium spinosum) was similarly dis- 

 tributed in a country district in 1918. These butterflies are thrown by 

 practical jokers on the clothes and hair of people. I have no doubt this is 

 an assault in law. In addition, the wholesale and retail distributors of 

 these advertisements can be punished under the Commonwealth and State 

 weed laws. It is a selfish and dastardly form of advertisement, from which 

 our farmers and pastoralists are entitled to be protected. 



The fruit of Solanum rostratum Dun, is a specially offensive burr. It is 

 figured in the Agricultural Gazette for June, 1904. 



Everybody in the country knows the pest called Bindi-eye or Bogan Flea. 

 The principal weed (a native) which goes under this name is Calotis cunei- 

 folia, and the burrs greatly injure wool, besides being a source of great 

 irritation to man and domestic animals. 



Stick-tights or Pitch-forks (Bidens) have a couple of barbed harpoons on 

 the fruits and cause great annoyance by perforating the skin and adhering 

 to wool. 



The spinules of Prickly Pear injure wool, while one species in particular 

 (Opuntia aurantiaca) breaks into small joints and is transported long 

 distances with facility by .adhering to the hocks of animals. 



(Z>) Adhesive fruits. 



Some seeds, e.g., that of Polanisia viscosa and Pisonia Brunoniana are 

 very sticky, and the latter in particular captures insects, and soils fur and 

 clothing by its bird-lime secretion. 



(c) and (d) Gummy seeds and weeds transported by the feet. 



Some seeds which meet with the moisture of damp soil or of mud develop 

 a gummy secretion with facilitates their transport when they touch any 

 object. Such seeds are the Plantains (Plantago} and many of the OuciferaB. 

 which include the Pepperworts (Lepidium). 



The solid-angled fruits of the Cat's Head (Emex australis) and the 

 Double Gee (Tribulus terrestris} present a sharp penetrating point to the 

 feet of animals from all aspects. They lame them and are carried about 

 more or less by the inconvenienced or suffering animal. But, in addition, 

 the seeds of all kinds of weeds, cemented by soil or clay to the feet of 

 animals, are transported by them without any distress. 



The part that birds can play in the dispersal of plants by seeds in their 

 stomachs and on their feet is discussed by Darwin (" Origin of Species," 

 6th edition, pages 326 and 328). Birds are often a prolific source of weed- 

 seed distribution. 



2. Transport by wool-washing. 



Every man has seen a burry or a moity or a grass-seed fleece. The number 

 of weed-seeds thus arrested is enormous. Consequently at wool-washing 

 establishments throughout the country (at Waterloo and Liverpool I have- 

 personally collected many plants which have been transported to those dis- 

 tricts in wool) we find that the water detaches the seed, softens it and often 

 puts it in a position to be readily germinated when it comes into contact 

 with the soil. 



