CHENOPODIACEiE 471 



an escape from cultivation." This is repeated in the Manual 1906. 

 It does not appear to have spread. 



Ckenopodtum urbicum, Linn. 



Though this species appears both in Hooker's Handbook and in 

 Cheeseman's Manual of the New Zealand Flora as an indigenous 

 plant, it is most certainly an introduction, as indeed both recognised. 

 It is first recorded by Kirk in 1869 as a naturalised plant in Auckland. 

 It occurs in a few localities in the North Island, but is fairly common 

 in the South Island, especially in Canterbury and Otago. 



Roubieva multifida, Moq. 



First recorded by Kirk in 1895 as occurring on a ballast heap 

 in Wellington, introduced from Buenos Ayres three years previously. 

 It did not ripen seeds, and did not appear the second year. I am not 

 aware that it has been found elsewhere. 



Beta vulgaris, Linn. Beet 



This species was no doubt introduced in the early days of settle- 

 ment, but it does not seem to have become wild anywhere in the 

 South Island. Polack, who visited the Kaipara district in 1831, 

 records it as cultivated by the Maoris. In the North Island Cheese- 

 man records it in the Manual (1906) as "an occasional escape from 

 cultivation^." 



PHYTOLACCACE^ 

 Phytolacca octandra, Linn. Ink-weed ; Poke-weed 



First recorded in Hooker's list in 1864 as P. decandra, but as 

 Kirk points out this is evidently a mere clerical error. In 1870 Kirk 

 speaks of it as common on roadsides or wherever the soil is disturbed 

 on volcanic hills. In 1882 becoming increasingly abundant, especially 

 on lava streams, and by sides of bush tracks. Cheeseman in the 

 Manual (1906) records it as abundant in the Auckland district. Its 

 seeds are freely distributed by fruit-eating birds. My son, G. Stuart 

 Thomson, writing from Whangarei in 19 16, tells me that the fruit 

 is largely eaten by pheasants, and in consequence their flesh becomes 

 very dark-coloured. 



A. Kerner states that thrushes are made ill by the berries of 

 Phytolacca, but this seems to have been an individual case with a 

 cage-bird. In New Zealand thrushes feed freely on the fruit 



' In 1877, among introduced plants of Wellington, Kirk records Beta cycla, as 

 occurring at Hutton Road. I have no idea what species this is. 



