The Country Gciitlonan s Magazine 



45 



%kt ©ariien. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE VERBENA. 



LOOKING at the numerous and re- 

 markably diversified varieties of Ver 

 bena which now adorn our plant houses and 

 flower gardens, or at the still more numerous 

 and formidable array of names which fill 

 large sections of nursery sale catalogues, 

 none who have not previously ascertained 

 the fact could possibly conceive that scarce 

 forty years have passed since the original re- 

 presentatives of this universally admired race 

 of showiest o mmer flowers first received 

 anything like general cultivation in British 

 gardens; yet such is unquestionably the 

 case. In 1826, Mr Poinsette collected seeds of 

 several Verbenas in the neighbourhood of 

 Buenos Ayres, which he transmitted to John 

 Hawkins, Esq., of Bignor Park, Petworth, 

 Sussex, where, under the management of his 

 gardener, Mr John Perry, the first flowered in 

 May 1827, and was figured (from a plant 

 grown by Mr Hai'rison, gardener to the 

 Earl of Egremont), in Sweet's " Botanical 

 Register " of the following year, under the 

 name of V. Melindres. This name was given 

 to it by Lindley^ in ignorance that it 

 had been previously called V. chamcedrifolia 

 in Persoon's " Synopsis " by no less an 

 authority than Jussieu, a circumstance which 

 led to a little confusion, in consequence of 

 its being known under both these names 

 among cultivators. That such a brilliant- 

 coloured and neat-habited plant should have 

 been hailed as a most important acquisition, 

 was nothing more than what might have been 

 expected ; and accordingly it became the 

 popular flower of the day, and was eulogized 

 as follows in Maund's " Botanic Garden " for 

 February 1831 : — "Its flowers are intensely 

 brilliant, without glossiness, and yet it has a 

 dazzling effect on the sight, not unlike the 

 lustre of poUshed metal. The eye cannot 



rest upon it without evident uneasiness. If 

 any artist or artizan, in the pride of his heart, 

 assume to himself excess of merit for the tints 

 he has discovered, let him look on this plant, 

 and subdue the intemperate heat of his ima- 

 gination." Such was the admiration bestowed 

 upon V. Melindres, that Verbena culture 

 at once became popular, and not only 

 were old obsolete species resuscitated, 

 but new ones were eagerly sought for, more 

 especially in South America, which had be- 

 come noted as the land of Verbenas. Of 

 the former, V. bonariensis, introduced from 

 Buenos Ayres so early as 1732, and V. 

 Aubletia, from North America in 1774, again 

 became common inhabitants of our gardens ; 

 and of the latter, V. venosa, brought home in 

 1830, V. Tweediana, as well as V, Sabini, in 

 1834, V. incisa, in 1836, and V. teucrioides, 

 in 1837, were received by cultivators into 

 particular favour. Of these, V. Tweediana 

 and V. incisa are so closely allied to V. 

 Melindres, that notwithstanding their having 

 been separated from it, and named by such 

 an eminent authority as Hooker, the pro- 

 priety of considering them as distinct species 

 has been questioned. In the " Botanical 

 Magazine" for December 1836, V. Tweediana 

 is described as having much affinity with the 

 last-named species, but differing from it 

 in being of a much taller and more upright 

 habit of growth, " clothed with soft downy 

 hairs of a much more delicate texture, 

 especially in the leaves, which are consider- 

 ably larger, more acuminate and serrated, 

 more cuneate at the base, and decidedly 

 petioled. The flowers are larger and more 

 inclining to rose colour (' rich rosy crimson'), 

 in [greater number, and the racemes more 

 capitate." In the same magazine for January 

 1838, V. incisa is described as "another South 



