11 



spread over the pasture grounds, and have much improved the pasturage, 

 as the cattle and sheep eat it greedily. 



POLYGONACEAE, 



Knotgrass, and bears the colonial name hogweed. Polj/gonum, 

 aviculare, Linn. A native of Europe, is one of the first of the troublesome 

 introductions, and is now spread over a large part of South Australia, and 

 especially in cultivated land and gardens. It forms a thick matting, and 

 chokes the surrounding herbage. Cattle and sheep relish it. 



Sheep's Sorrel. Rumex Acetosalla, Linn., and the Curled Dock, 

 Rumex crispa, Linn. Both dangerous European introductions, which 

 monopolise cultivated land and gardens, to the entire exclusion of other herbs. 

 They are not easily eradicated in consequence of their long roots penetrating 

 deep in the ground, and if a small piece of one of these remains it will grow 

 again. 



EUPHORBIACEAE. 



Warbwort Spurge. Euphorbia aviculare, Linn. A native of 

 Europe, has also found its way from Tasmania into South Australia, and is 

 found growing on rubbish heaps and in abandoned places. 



URTICEAE. 



Common and Small Nettle. Urtica urens, Linn,, and Urtica 

 dioica, Linn., are said to have been brought over from Tasmania in the hay 

 imported from there nearly forty years ago. They are mostly found growing 

 on rubbish heaps and in abandoned places, and become troublesome in 

 gardens. 



MONOCOTYLEDONS. 



GRAMINEAE. 



Black Oat. Avena sativa, Linn., var. melanosperma was un- 

 doubtedly either introduced with the original seed wheat from England, or from 

 Tasmania, which latter we have to thank for the introduction of a number of 

 noxious weeds, as in the early days of the colony a great deal of hay was 

 shipped from thence to South Australia. The black oat has the most 

 notorious pre-eminence of all the introduced weeds, and the effects of this 

 intruder are most ruinous to the farming community, as it finds it way into 

 all the cultivated land, and having once got a footing is the most troublesome 



