Bulletin 3 



following are examples of this class of introduced plants : 

 Scleranthus annuus L., while common in southern New 

 England, is in Maine abundant only at Wells Beach, but is 

 steadily advancing northward ; Are?iaria leptoclados Guss., is 

 established and spreading along the railroad embankments at 

 Onawa; Coro?iopus didymus L., is established at North Ber- 

 wick and Portland; Thlaspi arvcnse L., is abundant in the 

 St. John valley, but as yet only sporadic along the railway 

 lines further south. Euphorbia Esula L., for some years 

 established in eastern Massachusetts, has spread to North 

 Berwick, but only along the embankments of the Boston & 

 Maine Railroad. Lithospervium officinale L., is a road-side 

 weed in French Canada and around Fort Kent which is ap- 

 parently unknown elsewhere in Maine, save through a single 

 specimen collected many years ago at Manchester. Lamium 

 hybtidum Vifl., is of still more recent introduction at Orono, 

 Me., St. Johns, N. F., and Hingham, Massachusetts. 



A third class of introduced weeds comprises those species 

 that were at first cultivated for ornament or as vegetables. 

 Thus Portulaca oleracea L,., was grown by the early settlers 

 as a pot herb; Euphorbia Cyparissias L,., was an ornamental 

 border-plant. This last, since it never perfects seed and 

 spreads wholly by the root, is not likely to prove very trouble- 

 some. Rumex Acetosa L., still grown as a salad plant in 

 Lower Canada and about the larger cities, in Maine occurs 

 locally in fields. Saponaria officinalis L,., and Berberis vul- 

 garis L., are other relics of early cultivation, which are com- 

 mon only in the southern part of the state. The Garden 

 Currant and the variegated form of the Japanese Hop-vine 

 show a decided tendency to spread to moist thickets. Around 

 Salem, Massachusetts, Genista tinctoria L,., cultivated by the 

 early settlers, has overrun the rocky pastures, and has spread 

 along the railway lines to Kennebunk. 



The ballast grounds around seaports, where ships dump 

 the earth and rock used to steady them on the voyage, often 

 prove prolific sources for introduced plants of the most diverse 

 character. While certain species occur again and again, yet 

 the soil of such "dumps" is so often disturbed and the cli- 

 matic differences are frequently so great, that the species 



