VERBENA AUBLETIA. AUBI.ET's VERBENA. 83 



Verbena Atibletia being such a beautiful plant, Aublet's con- 

 nection with it may, indeed, secure for him a wider fame and 

 a more extended knowledge of his works, than if his name had 

 been coupled with some obscure and less attractive genus. 



Aublet's Verbena has few equals as a beautiful object in 

 flower-gardens. It does not, indeed, come up to the Brazilian 

 varieties, now so well known as Verbenas to the florists, in deli- 

 cacy of growth, and in brilliancy and rarity of color ; but it may 

 be a question whether it might not be much improved, so far 

 as color and form are concerned, under proper care. The 

 " Botanical Magazine," of London, says it was introduced into 

 Europe by M. Richard, in 1774, and goes on to state that it 

 "flowers in June and July. The extreme brilliancy of its color 

 renders it a very ornamental green-house plant." This last remark 

 sounds rather curious to American ears, as the plant is very hardy 

 with us, and does not need the protection of the green-house. 



Before the variable character of our Verbena was so well 

 known as it is now, the varieties found were thought to be 

 species, and were given new names. Thus we find V. bipin- 

 iiatifida, V. gla'ndulosa, V. montana, and some others named in 

 botanical works ; but all these designations have been abandoned, 

 as the plants which bore them are now looked upon as identical 

 with V. Aiibletia. The number of real species of Verbena is, 

 indeed, large enough, without naming so many mere varieties. 

 When Tournefort enumerated the species of this genus in the 

 year 1700, the list comprised only seven; but in 1S47 De Can- 

 dolle brought together eighty-five. 



In poetry the Verbena seems almost unanimously to be con- 

 sidered the emblem of sensibility, but on what ground we have 

 been unable to determine. If Moore's lines, 



" The heart that is soonest awake to the flowers 

 Is always the first to be touched by the thorns," 



be accepted as a good exposition of the idea of sensibility, then 

 surely there is nothing in the Verbena to suggest it. There is 



