INTRODUCED PLANTS. 141 



believe, by any botanist of eminence. P. decandra has been in- 

 troduced as a garden plant, and in America it is used as a com- 

 mon domestic purge. 



In the second great division of plants viz., the Calyciflorse, the 

 following natural families are represented in Australia by in- 

 troduced species: (1.) Asteracece ; (2.) Euplwrbiacece ; (3.) Le- 

 guuiinosce ; (4.) LyfhracecB ? ; (5.) Onagracece ; (6.) Rosacecs ; (7.) 

 Sanguisorlacece ? ; and (8.) Umbelliferce. 



(1.) Asteraceas. The species of introduced plants belonging to 

 the Composites, are rather numerous, some of them being very 

 troublesome weeds, and increasing with the greatest rapidity, 

 owing to the easy manner in which the seeds of many species are 

 wafted from place to place. Erigeron Canadense and E. linifolium 

 are of this character, and are well-known pests to the agricul- 

 turists under the name of cobbler's pegs. Gnaphalium luteo-al- 

 l)um and G. Indicum grow almost everywhere in waste places, and 

 are apparently of little use to man.. Two species of thistle, viz., 

 the "Virgin Mary thistle, {CarduusMariaiwt*), and the "Scotch 

 thistle" (Onopordon Acanthiuni), have spread very much of late 

 years in many parts of the colony, especially the former, which, 

 under the name of '"'milk thistle" or " Our Lady's thistle," has 

 had a reputation as "pectoral, antipleuritic, and aperitive," whilst 

 the full-grown leaves are said to be " sudorific and aperient." 

 This thistle is as beautiful as any of the family, and it may easily 

 be distinguished by the milky vein which runs through its dark 

 green spiny leaf. The Scotch thistle well merits the motto which 

 Scotsmen of old have affixed to their natural emblem, " Nemo me 

 impune lacessit" which Baxter interprets into the plain Scotch 

 " Ye maun' t meddle wi' me." Tanacetum vulgare, or common 

 tansy, is now growing wild in many places, but it seems in the 

 first instance to have escaped from a garden, having been pro- 

 bably imported by the early colonists, as a medical plant, for tan- 

 sy wine is said to have valuable remedial effects, and a decoction 

 of this plant is used as a medicine for ^i.-ut. Perhaps the intro- 

 duction of Pyretlirum Parthenium, or " fever few," may be at- 

 tributed to a similar cause, but it does seem to be a plant likely 

 to spread much. The introduction ofAnthemis cotula, or "stink- 

 ing camomile," I think may be traced to some European packing 

 cases of Messrs. J. and "W. Byrnes. In the first instance, it 



