`  Kirx.—On the Nativity in NZ. of Polygonum aviculare, L. 319 
trees ; a shrubby speedwell, found near all the beaches ; sow-thistles, virgin’s 
bower, vanelle, French willow, euphorbia, and crane’s-bill: also cudweed, 
rushes, bull-rushes, flax, all-heal; American nightshade, knot-grass, brambles, 
eye-bright, and groundsel, but the species of each are different from any we 
have in Europe. There is also polypody, spleenwort, and about twenty other 
different sorts of ferns, entirely peculiar to the place ; with several sorts of 
mosses, either rare, or produced only here ; besides a great number of other 
plants, whose uses are not yet known, and subjects fit only for botanical 
books.” 
I admit that at first sight the saving clause, “the species of each are 
different from any we have in Europe,” appears to shut out the probability of 
Polygonum aviculare being the plant intended, but upon examining the 
statement I find that several species are identical not only with continental 
European plants, but with common plants of the British Islands, and this 
beyond the possibility of dispute: thus the bindweeds are Convolvolus 
soldanella, and C. sepium, the sow-thistles Sonchus asper, the bulrushes 
Scirpus lacustris and Typha latifolia, the American nightshade Solanum 
nigrum; still further the rushes might have included Juncus effusus (J. tenax, 
b., Banks and Sol.), and possibly two other forms common to both countries ; 
so also the crane’s-bill and cudweed, although as these are open to question I 
merely state the possibility. But to what New Zealand plant except Polygonum 
aviculare could the English name of “knot-grass” be applied? Certainly not 
to any of its close allies, Polygonum decipiens would have been called a 
Persicaria, certainly not to the shrubby climbing plants which we now call 
Muhlenbeckias, and which Anderson would have at once separated from knot- 
grasses, independently of, the restricted use of the term by English botanists 
in all times, by their fruticose, climbing habit, fleshy, shining perianths and 
polygamous flowers (the small species of this section, M. axillaris and 
M. ephedroides, were unknown till discovered by Colenso). Rumex is out of 
the question. I feel confident that any botanist qualified to form an opinion 
by possessing a good knowledge of the floras of New Zealand and the British 
Islands will confirm me in stating that with the exception of Polygonum 
aviculare there is no member of the New Zealand flora to which the term 
“knot-grass” would have been applied by a British botanist of the last 
century. I do not, however, urge this point, as it seems not impossible to 
obtain direct evidence on this interesting subject. 
To several of the statements made by Mr. Travers exception may fairly be 
taken. It is, however, only worth while to allude to one, in which he states 
“the plant is always associated with the immediate occupation of land by man, 
making its habiiation either in places which he has disturbed and then suffered 
to lie waste, or along the sides of the tracks which he makes over virgin 
