53 



land vernacular ; flowers yellow, nearly half-inch across when 

 open ; fructification held in a cup-shaped calyx, and containing 

 a number of seeds with hooked awns. This plant is said to have 

 been introduced into Queensland on account of its fibre, which in 

 India is a commercial product. In Australia, except experi- 

 mentally, the fibre has never been produced ; but since its 

 introduction the plant has become very noxious in the tropical and 

 sub-tropical portions of the eastern colonies, and is spreading to the 

 cooler parts. It is found in the southern parts of New South 

 Wales, although not growing so luxuriantly as in the north, where 

 I have seen it entirely occupying the ground over considerable 

 stretches of cleared land. The plant becomes very aggressive 

 where it gets established, and as it seeds freely it will spring up from 

 these again for several years after it has been rooted out, unless this is 

 done on its first appearance, and before it has matured. Cattle and 

 horses will feed on the young shoots, and under stress, on the old 

 leaves, but neither does them much good. F. M. Bailey mentions 

 that the awned seeds have caused the death of young fowls. 



Euphorbia Pepins (Petty spurge wort). Indigenous to Europe 

 and Asia. A small erect branching herbaceous annual, rarely more 

 than eight inches high. Stem reddish when exposed to the 

 sun ; leaves small, bright green, smooth, entire, ovate to elliptical ; 

 flowers minute, greenish yellow ; fructification three-lobed. The 

 plant i<* readily recognisable by its milk-like sap. This juice is acrid, 

 and must be looked upon with suspicion as being poisonous. Found 

 generally in cultivated land and by the roadsides where the ground 

 is disturbed, railway embankments, etc. It spreads rapidly, but is 

 easily suppressed if not allowed to seed. 



E. lathyris (Caper spurge; myrtle spurge), and E. Iiclioscopia 

 (Sun spurge ; cat's milk) have been recorded by Mr. F. Turner as 

 introduced to New South Wales. 



Ricenus cotninunis (Castor-oil plant). Indigenous to India. A 

 shrub, assuming a treelike growth under favorable conditions. 

 Stems reddish or purplish, often covered with a bloom, and many 

 jointed ; leaves, stalked, large, deeply incised, composed of seven 

 long, pointed segments ; flowers numerous, in spikes, the male and 

 female separate ; fructification covered with soft spines. From the 

 nuts the castor oil of commerce is obtained. This plant is very 

 ornamental, and when grown under restriction may become a 

 valuable adjunct to other products. It is extensively cultivated in 

 India and America on account of the oil derived from it. In 

 temperate countries it spreads rapidly, and will occupy river banks 

 and other rich lands to the detriment of the native vegetation. 



I'liiai iiioii (Stinging nettle). Indigenous to Europe and 

 Central Asia. A perennial plant with numerous erect steins spring- 

 ing from the creeping root. The whole plant is covered with stinging 

 bristles. Leaves, dark green, triangular to lanceolate, with the lower 

 corners rounded ; (lowers generally dioecious, (meaning that the 



