3i8 The Weeds of a Garden. [Sess. 



lawn he spied a plant of Plantago media in the grass, and at 

 once uprooted it. I made a remark about the rarity of the 

 plant, and not having a specimen of it in my herbarium, was 

 glad of the chance of supplying the want. My friend spoke 

 of it as being a troublesome weed, only too plentiful in the 

 garden, unsightly on the grass, and, like other broad-leaved 

 plants, leaving a bare patch when removed — the result of 

 the struggle for existence. The gardener was much more 

 pleased to be rid of that plant than I, as a botanist, was 

 to get it. 



Before I had been long in my present situation, my em- 

 ployer one day remarked that the garden was a very weedy 

 one, which I could scarcely credit, as at the time (March) 

 no weeds were to be seen ; but for these six years I have 

 found it to be only too true. In fact, it sometimes 

 appears as if the weedy garden would become a garden 

 of weeds. 



As we all know, most plants affect special kinds of habitats : 

 some, as Mertensia (Smooth Gromwell), Cakile (Sea Eocket), 

 Salsola (Saltwort), Plantago coronopus (Buck's-horn Plantain), 

 and many others, are to be found only by the sea-shore ; others 

 again are to be met with only on the mountain tops, such as 

 Salix herbacea (Least Willow) and Eubus Chamaemorus (the 

 Cloudberry), nor will they condescend to visit the lower 

 valleys; a vast number of beauties luxuriate in woods and 

 shady glens, among which are Anemones, Primroses, Globe- 

 Flowers, Wild Hyacinths, and a host of others; lastly, a 

 goodly number prefer, for the most part, cultivated ground, 

 and of such are these here enumerated. However plentiful 

 Anemones, Trientalis (Chickweed Winter-Green), and Melam- 

 pyrum (Cow-wheat) may be within a few yards of the garden 

 wall, we do not look for, nor do we find, any of these 

 inside. But Groundsel, Chickweed, and many others, flourish 

 ad lib. 



As remarked before, a gardener tries, as in duty bound, to 

 exterminate at first sight every weed he comes across, but 

 in spite of all his efforts, many will develop into goodly 

 " specimens," such as those in the following list, which con- 

 tains over 70 phanerogams. Their comparative abundance 

 or rarity is roughly indicated as follows : moderate, no mark ; 



