68 Immigrant Plants in Los Angeles County, Cat. 



B. campestris, Mentha piperita or peppermint, Marrubium vulgare, 

 (Hoarhonnd) and Nasturtium officinale, (common watercress), have 

 passed control and become firmly naturalized. The peppermint and 

 watercress, from the lack of water or marshy ground, are not very 

 abundant, but the others have multiplied to such an extent as to 

 become the commonest and most injurious of weeds, covering acres 

 of ground, to the entire exclusion of more useful species. 



Malva borealis, the common mallow of the district, like Brass- 

 ica nigra, grows so rank here as to be scarce recognizable as the 

 European species, and springs up annually in most cultivated local- 

 ities. 



Around town, in some of the drier, localities, the field Convol- 

 vulus (Convolvulus arvensis), has secured a foothold. Its creeping 

 habits and extensive rootlets make it one the most noxious and ine- 

 radicable of weeds, and should it secure itself in the cultivated 

 districts the farmer's life will be no sinecure. 



The Caryophyllacea? order has three representatives: 



Silene gallica, not uncommon in waste ground. 



Stellaria meadia, around yards, and Cerastium triviale, found 

 occasionally in the lawns. 



Anthemis cotula, the May weed, is not uncommon on railway 

 banks. Silybum Marianum, the milk thistle, grows along the San 

 Gabriel. Centaurea meletensis, Sonchus oleracea and Sonchus asper 

 are common in the city, the latter, contrary to the usual experience, 

 is as common here as S. oleracea. 



The common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) may be observed 

 in the lawns among imported grasses, but it does not take kindly to 

 the dry soils. 



A few specimens of Vicia sativa, the tare of cultivation, Dip- 

 sacus fullonum, i,ne fuller's teazel, are annually found as escapes 

 from cultivation. 



Around the gardens and roadsides Polygonum aviculare and 

 Chenopodium album are very common. The Plantago major may 

 be found in moist ground, near zanjas, while its lesser brother, the 

 P. lanceolata, or rib-grass, struggles for a casual existence in the 

 grounds in the city. 



Last of all, comes the Urtica urens, the lesser nettle, clinging, 

 according to its Old World custom, around the haunts of man. 



These, so far as I have observed, comprise all the European 

 immigrants present in and around Los Angeles, but as time rolls on, 

 we shall, no doubt, see the importation of many others. 



A. Davidson. 



