PETUNIA. 
Easter; and it is used for decora- | 
ting the Spanish churches at that | 
season. In England it generally | 
flowers in August. It should be 
grown in chepped turfy loam mixed | 
with a little peat to keep it open; | 
and it is propagated by cuttings | 
struck in heat. 
Perry Wuin.—Genista danglica. 
Petou'n1A.— Solandcee.— Perhaps 
no plants have made a greater revo- | 
lation in floriculture than the Petu- 
nias. Only a few years ago they 
were comparatively unknown, and | 
now there is not a garden, or even 
a window, that can boast of flowers | 
at all, without one. P. nyctagini- | 
flora, the common white Petunia, 
was first brought from Brazil in | 
1823; and as it was thought very | 
nearly to resemble the common To- 
bacco, it was called Petunia from 
Petun, which is the Brazilian name 
for that plant. This plant was cul- 
tivated but sparingly, and only in 
greenhouses as a perennial, till 1830, 
when P. vicldcea, or P. phenicea, 
as it is sometimes called, was in- 
troduced from Buenos Ayres by 
Mr. Tweedie; and from this spe- 
cies, hybridized with P. nyctagini- 
flora and P. bicolor, most of the 
innumerable hybrids now in our 
gardens have been produced. All 
these kinds are found nearly hardy, 
and they may either be treated as 
half-hardy annuals, being raised on 
a slight hotbed and planted out in 
May, or they may be sown in the 
open ground as soon as the seed is 
ripe, or in March or April, or suffer- 
ed to sow themselves; care being 
taken in all cases in the open air 
to choose a sheltered situation, and 
to lay a few dead leaves over the 
bed if the weather should be severe. 
When treated as greenhouse plants 
these Petunias all become shrubby, 
but they will not live more than 
two or three years, and they should 
‘be cut down as soon as they have 
done flowering. When they are 
ee ee 
316 
PETUNIA. 
wanted to grow to a large size, and 
to cover a trellis, &c., like climbing 
plants, they should be planted in 
_the free ground, in the conservatory, 
or in the open air, ina light rich soil, 
or, if they are kept.in pots, allowed 
plenty of room for their reots, as, 
unless this is done, they will become 
drawn up with long weak stems, 
bare of both leaves and flowers, to 
a considerable height. When they 
are wanted to form strong bushy 
plants for setting in a window or 
keeping in boxes under a veranda, 
the end may be attained by plant- 
ing them first in very small pots 
and shifting them into others, gradu- 
ally becoming larger. and larger, 
always pinching off the flowers, and 
tips of the shoots, till the plants 
have attained the desired form and 
size, when they may be allowed to 
flower, and will form splendid ob- 
jects. When Petunias are wanted 
to cover a bed in a regular flower- 
garden, they are not cut in at all; 
but their long rambling shoots being 
pegged down all over the bed, a 
number of side-shoots will be sent 
up, which will soon become covered 
with a mass of flowers. The hy- 
brid, P. spléndens, treated in this 
manner in Lady Granville’s flower- 
garden at Dropmore, is, when the 
sun shines upon it, almost too bril- 
liant to be looked at. P. intermé- 
dia, sometimes called Salpigléssis 
linearis, is a dwarf shrub, a native 
of Panama, introduced in 1832, 
which requires to be kept in‘a green- 
house in England. 
A great confusion has arisen 
about the name of the purple-flow- 
ered Petunia, as, when it was first 
raised at Glasgow from the seeds 
sent home by Mr. Tweedie, it 
wa 
supposed by Sir W. J. Hooker a 
be a Salpiglossis ; and it was figured 
and described by him under the 
name of Salpigtossis integrifolia 
in the Botanical Magazine, t. 3113 
It was afterwards figured and de- 
fad 
4 
