535 



Goods of all descriptions, but more particularly fragile articles, 

 arc extensively packed in hay, and generally in such that it is 

 naturally of low value for feeding purposes, and probably contains 

 objectionable plants. Many articles are sent in their original 

 packing to all parts of the country, and in this way weeds may 

 become introduced simultaneously in places widely apart from each 

 other. 



Plants coming from nurseries, in pots, or having the roots 

 packed in imss, or, as is sometimes done, in green weeds to keep 

 them moist, are conveyors of many seeds, as has frequently come 

 under my notice when examining such importations. 



Seed capsules, with burs, attach themselves to the hair of 

 animals, and are often carried about for a considerable time before 

 they drop off. Sheep in particular may, in this manner, carry such 

 seeds over long distances. The discovery of the Bathurst bur in the 

 Albany stockyards is a case in point. Little doubt can exist that 

 the seeds of this plant were brought by sheep from one of the other 

 colonies. 



Besides the means of further distributions that suggest them- 

 selves from the foregoing as applying to weeds already introduced, 

 two other important agents must be added, namely, wind and 

 water. 



Many, and particularly the more aggressive plants, produce 

 seeds to which feathery or winglike organs are attached, specially 

 developed for wind distribution. They are thus possessed of the 

 means of floating in an air current, and get widely disseminated 

 from, may be, a single plant that was allowed to mature. Rivers 

 help the wind materially to carry such seeds still further along, and 

 during inundations the rapid currents move those seeds from place 

 to place, which naturally are too heavy to drop far away from the 

 mother plant. Among the debris left behind during floods plants are 

 frequently found to develop which previously were not seen in these 

 localities. 



DESCRIPTIONS. 



Argenvme Mcxicana (Mexican poppy ; prickly poppy ; devil's 

 fig). Indigenous to Mexico. An erect annual of hardy growth, 

 reaching a height of several feet. Leaves, whitish-green, deeply 

 incised and spinous ; flowers, large, yellowish-white ; seeds, small, 

 enclosed in a many-chambered capsule. A very objectionable weed. 

 The seeds are more powerfully narcotic than opium. 



Fumaria offfctna/is (Common fumitory). Indigenous to Europe 

 and Asia. A succulent erect or decumbent annual of delicate green 

 colour. Stems soft, and sometimes reaching a length of several 

 feet, but then the plant is always more or less trailing; leaves much 

 divided ; flowers in racemes sometimes one to two inches long, 



