426 DICOTYLEDONS AND CONIFERS 



during the formation of the Onehunga railway, where a few seeds fell 

 on disturbed soil, grew up and flowered. The railway works being suspended, 

 that plant increased rapidly, and spread wherever it could find disturbed 

 soil." 



Buller in his Introduction to the and edition of his History of the 

 Birds of New Zealand, pp. xliv to xlvi, says: 



If the sparrow is fond of ripe grain it is still fonder of the ripe seeds of 

 the variegated Scotch thistle. This formidable weed threatened at one 

 time to overrun the whole colony. Where it had once fairly established 

 itself it seemed wellnigh impossible to eradicate it, and it was spreading 

 with alarming rapidity, forming a dense growth which nothing could face. 

 In this state of affairs the sparrows took to eating the ripe seed. In tens of 

 thousands they lived on the thistle, always giving it the preference to wheat 

 or barley. They have succeeded in conquering the weed. In all directions 

 it is dying out. 



In the Manual (1906) Cheeseman records this species as abundant 

 in fields and waste places in both islands, especially to the north of 

 the East Cape, rarer southwards. (Fl., Jan. to March.) 



The plant makes excellent ensilage, and has been used for the 

 purpose in many parts of Australia ; it contains a relatively large pro- 

 portion of salt. Sheep eat the plant readily in the young state, and 

 its seeds are very fattening for fowls. 



In the Noxious Weeds Act of 1900 Silybum (any species) is 

 included in the list of Noxious Seeds, and is also included in the 

 Second Schedule of the Act by Special Gazette Notice of 2Oth June, 

 I90I 1 . 



Vittadinia australis, A. Rich., var. dissecta, Benth. 



In 1873 this plant was observed in abundance by roadsides and in 

 rocky and waste places about Nelson, but later the plant died out 

 there. In 1877 Cheeseman found it in great profusion in a new 

 locality on the coast of Nelson, extending towards D'Urville Island. 

 In 1878 it was found at the shingly mouths of small streams dis- 

 charging into Palliser Bay near Wellington. 



In the Manual (1906) Cheeseman states that it is naturalised in 



1 It has been found in New South Wales that this species is occasionally 

 dangerous to stock. In 1912 Max Henry, Government Veterinary Surgeon, drew 

 attention to losses of stock (cattle) from eating this plant. Again in 1914 S. T. D. 

 Symons, Chief Inspector of Stock, recorded that numbers of cattle were killed 

 through eating the plant, in several districts. This is due, apparently, to the presence 

 in the plant of considerable quantities of hydrocyanic acid. Horses are not affected 

 by this plant and it only hurts cattle when they are placed on it in a hungry condition, 

 when the plants are young or stunted. 



On the other hand it is recorded that in 1916 near Inverell, New South Wales, 

 2700 sheep, suffering from drought, got into 300 acres of land covered with this 

 weed, and after three months were trucked to Sydney as fat sheep. 



