Kirk. — On the Nativity in NZ. of Polygonum aviculare, L. 319 



trees ; a shrubby speedwell, found near all tlie beaches ; sow-thistles, virgin's 

 bower, vanellse, French willow, euphorbia, and crane's-bill: also cudweed, 

 rushes, bull-rushes, fljj,x, 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, 

 h., 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 

 Muhlenheckias, 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. ep>hedroides, 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 habitation 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 



