INTBODTJCED PLANTS. 151 



few weeks lie found that all his labour had been expended in vain, 

 for the weed sprang up as vigorously as ever. The difficulty of 

 removing this Cyperus arises from its tuberous roots, which in 

 alluvial soil strike very deeply. Steudel, in his work on the 

 Sedge family, describes the rhizome or rooting stem as " longe 

 repente tuberifero" a character which agrees well with the intro- 

 duced plant. With the exception of a few species of G-raminacece, 

 which have found their way accidentally to the colony, most of 

 the foreign grasses were brought hither by the early settlers. 

 Hordeum murinum, or squirrel-tail grass, has become very annoy- 

 ing in some parts of the interior. The awns or heads of this 

 grass are so injurious to the gums of horses that it should be 

 carefully eradicated wherever hay is grown. Lolium temulentum 

 is likewise another injurious grass, being the only one of the 

 family which has deleterious properties. This grass is described 

 by Steudel as being indigenous in New Holland, as well as in 

 many parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America ; but as Brown 

 does not enumerate it amongst the Australian grasses, I think it 

 must have been introduced. The seeds of this darnel or rye 

 grass are said to produce intoxication and fatal convulsions, and 

 it is undoubtedly the tare mentioned in the ISFew Testament 

 (Matt. xiii. 25) a noxious weed, which modern travellers assure 

 us is pulled up and separated from the wheat just as it was 

 eighteen centuries ago ! As the " summer grass," or Panicum 

 ciliare, and the " couch grass," or Cynodon dactylon, are described 

 by Brown amongst our indigenous grasses, I must omit these 

 from the number of introduced plants, although I believe many 

 persons consider that the latter was brought from the East Indies. 

 The same remark may probably apply to Panicum cms galli (a 

 coarse grass which can endure hot weather), which Brown him- 

 self found here in a wild state. Poa annua seems to be cosmo- 

 politan, as it may be found in almost all temperate climates, but 

 P fflauca, and P. pratensis were introduced from England, and 

 also Briza media, B. maxima, Lolium perenne, Holcus lanatus, and 

 Festuca bromoides, all of which may be noticed occasionally in a 

 wild state. Bromus Schraderi (prairie grass), and Hemitaptirum 

 glabrum (buffalo grass), have not been so long in the colony as 

 those enumerated, but as they seem more suitable for this clima^ 

 than many of the English grasses, they are likely to spread more 



