THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Calyx. Splitting when the enclosed fruit is ripe. (Description taken 

 from New South Wales specimens, with the help of Dr. Gillies and 

 Hooker's original description in Hooker's Botanical Miscellany, Vol. 

 1, p. 167 (1830). 



It is only likely to be confused in New South Wales with Verbena 

 bonariensis, a taller and much more widely diffused plant. 



Vernacular Names. People in New South Wales most commonly call 

 it " Blue Weed," a name it shares with other Verbenas, with Ecliium, and 

 other plants. The colour of the flowers is, however, of a rich purple. " Wild 

 Verbena " or " Vervain " are also applied to it. 



Fodder or other Uses. I cannot find any use to which this plant is put. 

 It is harsh, and stock always reject it. It possesses no poisonous properties. 

 It is a very pretty plant, and hence leniency has been shown to it, but it 

 should be pulled up wherever it makes its appearance in a fresh place. 



Where Found. It is a native of the Argentine, South America, but it 

 has now spread to most sub-tropical regions of the world. In New South 

 Wales, though not the commonest Verbena by any means, it is widely 

 diffused in the coastal districts, and is spreading westerly. It frequents 

 grass land, and commonly invades a district through the sides of its roads. 

 It was doubtless originally brought to this State as a garden plant. 



It has been proclaimed in the following shires and municipalities : 



SHIRKS. MUNICIPALITIES. 



Cockburn Gloucester Moss Vale, Ulmarra. 



Copmanhurst Patrick Plains. 



Stagger Weed (Stachys arvensis L.). 

 (LABIATE: Mint, &c., Family.) 



Popular Description. An annual herb to 1 feet high, with opposite 

 leaves, oval, or occasionally almost heart-shaped at the base, and with 

 wrinkled margins. The flowers are grouped in circles round the upper part 

 of the square stem, one circle immediately above each pair of leaves. 



It is a native of Europe and Western Asia. 



Botanical Description. 



A weak, spreading, hairy annual. Leaves small, petiolate. ovate-crenate. 

 Flowers small, pale-purple, in false-whorls of 2 to 6. Calyx with five nearly 

 equal teeth as long as the tube. Corolla upper-lip erect, concave and entire. 



Experience in other States. It is common in South Australia, Victoria, 

 and Queensland. Ewart suggests that somebody has confused the word 

 "Stachys'' and "Staggers" and has thus helped to perpetuate the popular 

 idea as to its poisonous nature. Bailey deals with it in his book on weeds 

 and more fully in the Queensland Agricultural Journal for 1899, p. 49. 

 There is, however, nothing fresh in his note; he records popular experience 

 over large areas in the Australian States. 



Experience in New South Wales. This is one of the weeds most frequently 

 sent to me for determination, and almost invariably I am informed that 

 it has caused staggers or that it is suspected of poisoning. So numerous 

 are the letters, particularly in the autumn, that this is one of the weeds for 

 -which a set reply has been formulated to save time in correspondence. 



It is to be found all over the State, but chiefly in the coastal districts and 

 tablelands. 



