250 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



Composite order. To-day they have a foothold east 

 of the Mississippi, along every roadside and in every 

 meadow suitable to their growth. Two specimens 

 of Texan nettle (Solarium rostratum Dunal) were 

 recently found in a field north of the city of Terre 

 Haute. This plant is given in Prof. Halstead's list as 

 one of the 34 worst weeds in the United States. Its 

 habitat, or usual range, is given in the botanies as 

 "Plains of Nebraska to Texas," but it is rapidly mov- 

 ing northward and eastward, and unless checked in 

 its course will soon bring dismay to thousands of 

 farmers who know nothing of its pernicious habits. 



These plants in their eastward migration are well 

 up to the spirit of the times. They travel by railway. 

 The seeds are carried either in the coats of cattle or 

 sheep or in the food which supports them on their 

 journey. Our great railways run east and west and 

 the bared soil alongside the tracks furnishes excellent 

 seed beds, where, if dropped, the seed may sprout and 

 the plant grow unmolested, until it gets a chance to 

 take another step in advance. The botanist has 

 learned their ways of migration and knows that if he 

 wishes to find strange species his best pathway will 

 be alongside the railways. 



Taking the term "weed" in the sense of useless 

 plants growing wild in cultivated grounds, pastures 

 and meadows, of sufficient size to be easily noticeable, 

 and of sufficient abundance to be injurious to the 

 farmer, 91 species were found by myself in Vigo 

 County and as many may be found in almost any 

 county in the State. Of these, according to Gray, 33 

 are of European origin; eight are from tropical 



