The Romance of a Wayside Weed. 5 1 



a sailor introduced it by some chance ; a botanist 

 sowed it here for an experiment. Nay, perhaps a 

 Roman settler at Aquae Solis brought it over with the 

 plants for his Italian garden. In such or the like 

 casual manner it got a footing on Claverton Down ; 

 and, as the climate suited it, it has gone on flourishing 

 ever since. Here, I say, would be an easy explana- 

 tion if the case of the hairy spurge were a solitary 

 one ; but, as a matter of fact, there are hundreds of 

 cases exactly like it. It is quite a common occur- 

 rence to find a plant extend all through Europe from 

 the Caucasus to the Pyrenees, then stop suddenly 

 short, and turn up again once more incontinently 

 in Devon, Cornwall, Kerry, and Connemara. This is 

 such a curious fact that it really seems to call for 

 some adequate explanation. 



Let me begin by noting a few of the most striking 

 instances. There is in the Bristol Channel a solitary 

 rocky islet known by the old Scandinavian title of 

 the Steep Holme — a name given to it, no doubt, by 

 the wickings of the ninth century, who made it their 

 headquarters for plundering the chapmen and slave- 

 mongers of wealthy Bricgstow. Now the rocky clefts 

 of the Steep Holme are still crimson in May and 

 June with the brilliant red blossoms of the wild 

 paeony, a flower which does not elsewhere appear 



