Fashion swings this way and that, with regard to the construction of nature on offer – its pendulum swung farther towards novel or traditional.  Currently, the  tastemakers want indigenous, and are beginning to pay well for green (privileged locavores and nationalized tree planting subsidizers, to name two user groups willing to cough up the surcharge).

I found this quote from Christopher Smart in Keith Thomas’ Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500-1800:

“I pray God for the introduction of new creatures into this island,” Christopher Smart would sing, “For I pray God for the ostriches of Salisbury plain. the beavers of the Medway and silver fish of Thames.”

(from Jubilate Agno)