3i8 ■ FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



North American savage significantly calls our 

 plantain {Plantago major), or road weed, the " foot- 

 step of the whites," and a common species of vetch 

 (Vicia craccd) still marks the former abode of the 

 Norwegian colonists in Greenland. One of the most 

 striking instances of this kind is the gradual exten- 

 sion of the thorn apple over the whole of Europe, 

 which has followed the bands of gipsies out of Asia ; 

 this race make frequent use of this poisonous plant 

 in their unlawful proceedings, and hence much culti- 

 vated by them, it also occurs, uncalled for, near the 

 place where- they have made their habitations. 

 Auguste St. Hilaire says, 1 " In Brazil, as in Europe, 

 certain plants appear to follow in the footsteps of 

 man, and preserve the traces of his presence ; 

 frequently have they helped me to discover the 

 situation of a ruined hut, in the midst of the wastes 

 which extend out beyond Paracuta. Nowhere have 

 the European plants multiplied in such abundance 

 as in the plains between Theresia and Monte Video, 

 and from this city to the Rio Negro. Already have 

 the violet, the borage, some geraniums, the fennel, 

 and others, settled in the vicinity of Sta. Theresia. 

 Everywhere we found our mallows and camomiles, 

 our milk-thistle, but, above all, our artichokes, 

 which, introduced into the plains of the Rio de la 



1 Introduction to " Flora of Brazil." 



