20 TlMEHRI. 
mentioned in either endurance or wide distribution. 
Some of these as well as other plants are provided with 
hooked seed-vessels, so that they may be distributed by 
animals to a considerable distance. These appendages 
are very rarely found on plants that grow in the swamps 
or forests, while they are rather common among the 
pests of cultivated land. 
Very few of the common weeds are either pretty or 
showy. Here and there a wild ipecacuanha (Asclepias 
curassavica) enlivens the roadside with its rich scarlet 
and orange flowers, or a rattle bush (Crotalaria retusa) 
makes a little colour, but there is nothing to compare 
with the pretty wild flowers of the dry savannahs of the 
interior. In some places the black sage (Varronia 
curassavica) almost covers the ground with its strag- 
gling woody branches, its stinking, bitter leaves being 
rejected by every animal. In neglected yards several 
species of Solanacese spread their prickly stems over the 
ground, or the stinking fit-weed (Eryngium fcetidum) 
makes its presence known by the nasty smell it exhales 
when trod upon. 
From the fact that certain plants are only found in 
connection with the presence of man, the question 
naturally arises, have they been' developed since man 
took to tilling the ground, or could they exist apart 
from his presence ? Among cultivated plants develop- 
ments have occurred which in many instances would 
absolutely prevent the species from propagating itself in 
a state of nature. The sugar-cane for example, bears a 
large panicle ot flowers but never produces seed, neither 
is there any record of perfect seed ever having been 
developed. That such was not originally the case is 
