24 
The Presidential Address. 
is, however, often merely a garden escape, having even 
double flowers; singularly indestructible and capable of 
spreading along the banks of a stream. It may, therefore, 
have come from the Saxon or Norman flower-garden. The 
Gooseberry has Celtic names of native origin, was not culti¬ 
vated by the Eomans, and bore the Anglo-Saxon name of 
“ Fea-berry.” It may, therefore, be indigenous, 37 though its 
existing localities seldom have that appearance. 
Coming to such an Essex as this, the short swarthy Mon¬ 
golian Neolith, with polished celt, gold ornaments, flocks and 
herds, 38 must, I think, without intentionally introducing new 
plants, have had an immense indirect influence upon our 
flora. He is not likely, when not harassed by an invading 
race, to have lived by choice only on those hills and downs 
on which he has left us the cromlechs and long barrows that 
probably belong to this age. Even if he preferred to live on 
pile-dwellings, as in Norfolk and in Holderness, he almost 
certainly effected a certain amount of forest clearing. Not 
to speak of artificial pasturage, he is believed to have grown 
flax, and here we have the necessity for tillage of a somewhat 
detailed character. In growing corn, flax, or other crops he 
must have unintentionally introduced weeds into the country, 
possibly the Pimpernel, 39 and that Plantain (Plantago major) 
37 DeCandolle, op. cit., id. 911. 
38 “There are remains of domesticated forms introduced by the race 
which supplanted the Palaeolithic tribes. These are the dog, horse, 
sheep, goat, short-horn, and hog. It is noteworthy that these domestic 
forms were not parts of the indigenous fauna of Europe. They appear 
at once in Neolithic deposits, leading to the inference that they were 
introduced by the human tribes which now migrated, probably from 
Central Asia, into the European continent. These tribes were likewise 
acquainted with agriculture, for several kinds of grain, as well as seeds 
of fruits, have been found in their lake-dwellings ; and the deduction has 
been drawn from these remains that the plants must have been brought 
from Southern Europe or Asia. The arts of spinning, weaving, and 
pottery-making were also known to these people. Human skeletons and 
bones belonging to this age have been met with abundantly in barrows 
and peat-mosses, and indicate that Neolithic man was of small stature, 
with a long or oval skull.”—Archibald Geikie, ‘ Text-book of Geology.’ 
p. 907. 
39 The name is of Celtic origin, pimper signifying “five,” in allusion to 
the petals. 
