﻿October 4th, ipoj..] PROCEEDINGS. v 



it in the ground beyond the bleach-works ; two of them gathered 

 it in this station ten or twelve years ago j and a third has known 

 it in the same spot for the last fifteen years. Its persistence 

 may therefore be accepted as established. 



The open ground fronting the river to the west of the bleach- 

 works is where the plant is most at home, and this may be the 

 oldest colony of the plant, although the dates named in the 

 preceding paragraph apply to plants gathered in the station to 

 the east. 



The plant grows in clumps amongst the grass and other 

 herbage for about fifty or sixty yards on the Stockport side of 

 the works, as well as on the waste heap at the back of the works. 

 There are about twenty clumps in all, a dozen of which occur on 

 the western side, and eight on the eastern side ; two of the larger 

 clumps would cover areas of about six square yards each. The 

 plant grows to a height of two or three feet, or even more. Its 

 associates are Artemisia vulgaris, Cnicus arvensis, Urtica dioica, 

 and species of Tragopogon and Scrophularia, all of them plants 

 of a character suggesting strong competition in its struggle for 

 existence. 



The following are some of Mr. McDonald's notes of his 

 examinations of the numerous seedlings which occur. In the 

 first season the primary stem grows from three to eight inches in 

 height, but most of this decays with the advance of winter. The 

 second year's growths usually consist of two branches, each of 

 which springs from the axils of the decayed cotyledons ; if the 

 branches are more than two they appear to arise from 

 adventitious buds, formed just below the cotyledons. By the 

 end of the second season the roots are vigorous, being both 

 thick and long, and a cluster of as many as a score of buds may 

 have been formed, each of which is capable of developing a new 

 stem. 



It is not possible with any degree of certainty to indicate the 

 source of the plant. A manufacturing and industrial concern 

 necessarily brings many foreign seeds, in the materials employed, 

 and in the food and litter required for horses. Beans will come 



