INTEODT7CED PLANTS. 147 



matic complaints. It has been recommended as stimulating and 

 tonic, and an infusion of the leaves has been found serviceable in 

 chronic catarrh. In Sir T. Mitchell's Tropical Australia, p. 8, 

 the writer remarks : " We halted at another sheep station of Mr. 

 Boyd's. Here I perceived that horehound grew abundantly; and 

 I was assured by Mr. Parkinson, a gentleman in charge of these 

 stations, that this plant springs up at all sheep and cattle stations 

 throughout the colony a remarkable fact wnich may assist to ex- 

 plain another, namely, the appearance of the couch grass or dog's 

 tooth grass, wherever the white man sets his foot, although pre- 

 viously unknown in these regions." This passage is quoted in 

 an interesting work on English wild flowers, published under the 

 auspices of the Christian Knowledge Society, and the writer, I 

 think incorrectly, supposes that the horehound mentioned by Sir 

 Thomas is Ballota nigra, or the English black horehouud, whereas 

 the species spreading in these colonies is Marrulium vulgare, or 

 the white horehouud. Prunella vulgar-is is indigenous, and seems 

 identical with the European plant, but a species of Salvia which 

 has appeared in the Bathurst district, and another of Molucella, 

 from the Murrumbidgee, are regarded by Dr. Mueller as intro- 

 duced plants. 



(7.) Oleacece : As Olea paniculata and Notelcea ovata of the 

 olive family, are common in many parts of Australia, it is not 

 surprising that the European olive (in two varieties) has a ten- 

 dency to escape from cultivated places and spring up in suitable 

 localities. I have noticed both of these plants growing wild in 

 different parts of the bush, to which, in all probability, seeds have 

 been conveyed by birds. 



(8.) PlantaginacecB : There are several species of native plan- 

 tain described by Brown, but the common ribwort (P. lanceolata), 

 and the greater plantain (P. major) are apparently of European 

 origin. The former is employed in agriculture as a herbage plant, 

 but it is not now much esteemed by farmers ; and the spon- 

 taneous appearance of it in any locality is regarded as a certain 

 indication of a dry soil. P. major is a native of the East as well as 

 of Europe, and generally springs up by the wayside. The seeds 

 afford food for small birds, and the leaves are often used for 

 wounds and sores. An American negro once received a reward 

 for discovering a remedy for the bite of a rattlesnake, and it is 



