I  lo    Migration  of  Plants  from  Europe  to  America,  {  ^'"FiCisso^''"^ 
The  Great  Mullein,  or  Flannel  plant  [Verbascum  thapsus)^  common  in  waste 
ground  In  Europe  and  Asia,  is  more  common  here  than  in  England  in  similar  situa- 
tions, but  never  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware  on  ground  that  is  truly  wild. 
The  Yellow  Toadflax,  or  "butter  and  eggs"  [Linarta  'vulgaris)^  has  been  intro- 
duced with  crops,  and  now  shows  its  two-tinted  blossoms  in  gardens  and  on  way- 
sides, and  once  in  is  with  difficulty  eradicated. 
The  Catmint  or  Catnip  [Nepeta  cataria)^  a  native  of  England  and  southern 
Europe,  is  now  as  common  in  America.  The  Burdock  [Arctium  lappa)  is  another 
importation  from  the  Old  World,  "  who  left  his  country  for  his  country's  good," 
and  has  proved  like  many  others  who  did  the  same  no  blessing  to  his  adopted  land. 
Moreover,  he  has  left  so  many  of  his  kith  and  kin  behind  him  that  his  absence  is  not 
noticed.  Every  boy  knows  the  hooked  burs  or  seed  vessels  of  this  plant,  which 
cling  so  closely  to  the  clothes  of  men,  the  fleeces  of  sheep,  and  the  manes  of  horses 
that  its  rapid  extension  is  inevitable. 
The  Great  Celandine  [Chelidonium  majus),  with  its  bright  yellow  flowers  and 
orange  juice,  may  be  found  on  the  eastern  seaboard  and  near  dwellings  in  the  inland 
States. 
The  Shepherd's  Purse  [Capsella  bursa  pastoris),  a  common  weed  in  England,  is 
common  in  Canada  and  the  States 
The  Bladder  Campion  [Silene  inflata)  spreads  its  white  petals  by  the  roadside, 
while  its  little  congener,  the  Mouse  Ear  [Cerastium  'vuigatum),  grows  ensconced,  as 
in  Europe,  in  gardens  and  in  fields 
Our  list  is  long  enovigh,  but  a  few  remain  too  common  to  be  completely  omitted. 
Every  street  and  road  in  many  parts  of  the  country  is  covered  with  a  soft  sumn-.er- 
green  carpet  of  the  little  insignificant  Knot-grass  [Polygonum  aojiculare).  It  forms 
a  substitute  for  grass  where  grass  cannot  find  a  foothold  and  keeps  its  ground  in 
defiance  of  dust  and  traffic  and  heat. 
Not  a  few  of  the  European  grasses,  too,  imported  for  meadows,  have  escaped  from 
cultivation  and  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves  more  or  less  firmly  as  occupants 
of  the  soil.  The  little  Annual  Meadow  Grass  [Poa  annua),  the  Timothy  [Phleum 
pratrense),  the  Fox-tail  [Alopecurus  pratensis),  the  Redtop  [Agrostis  ^ulgarir),  the 
White  Bent  [Agrostis  alba)  have  become  perfectly  wild  in  different  places.  The 
Cocksfoot  [Dactylis  glomerata),  the  Couch  or  Quick  grass  [Triticum  repens)  have 
been  less  successful.  The  former  apparently  dislikes  the  hot  sun  of  America, 
though  it  does  well  in  the  shade.  The  so-called  Blue  Grass,  more  properly  the  June 
Grass  [Poa  pratensis),  of  the  famous  Kentucky  pastures,  has  almost  monopolized 
the  ground  in  many  places,  and  the  Chess  or  Cheat  [Bromus  secalinus)  constantly 
cheats  the  American  farmer  into  a  more  than  Darwinian  belief  in  the  transformation 
of  species,  not,  by  the  way,  upward,  but  downward.  The  Purple  Finger  Grass 
[Panicum  sanguineum),  an  immigrant  from  Southern  Europe,  found  but  not  native  in 
•England,  may  be  gathered  by  the  wayside  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  Finally, 
in  some  parts  of  the  country  the  hay  betrays  to  the  European  by  its  scent  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Sweet  Spring  Grass  [Anthoxanthum  odoratum),  so  well  known  as  giving 
much  of  the  finest  of  the  fragrance  to  an  English  hayfield. 
In  thus  noting  instances  of  vegetable  immigration  from  Europe  to  America, 
