In Arequipa, Novoandianan restaurants still devote a large proportion of their menus to the common garden spud, but prepare it in a multitude of novel ways.

BBC: Peru��s gastronomic renaissance

The common toad has not adapted as well to garden ponds as the common frog, as they need deeper water to spawn successfully.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Cumbria | Rush hour threat to amorous toads

In 2011 France gave common-or-garden lawyers the right to create binding documents similar to those endorsed by notaries.

ECONOMIST: Notaries: Breaking the seals | The

This ability transformed Disney from a common-or-garden media mogul into an embodiment of the American dream, the winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a fixture on the front cover of news magazines.

ECONOMIST: America��s sorcerer

Libertarians argue that the Republican Party is too much in the pocket of ageing social conservatives such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family, activists who do not represent the views of common-or-garden Evangelicals let alone middle-of-the-road Americans.

ECONOMIST: The American right

Exit the common at Charles Street and cross to the Public Garden, which is Boston's beautiful Victorian-era botanical oasis.

BBC: In Boston, leaf peeping by bike