PETUNIA. 



232 



PHAIUS. 



shoots being pegged down all over 

 the bed, a number of side shoots 

 ■ttill be sent up, w hich will soon be- 

 come covered with a mass of flowers. 

 The hybrid P. spUndem, treated 

 in this manner in Lady Grenville's 

 flower-garden at Dropmore, is, when 

 the sun shines upon it, almost too 

 brilliant to be looked at. P. inter- 

 media, sometimes called SaJpiglossis 

 linearis, is a dwarf shi'ub, a native 

 of Panama, introduced in IS 32, 

 which requires to be kept in a green- 

 house in England. 



A great confusion has arisen about 

 the name of the purple-flowered 

 Petunia, as, when it was first raised 

 at Glasgow from the seeds sent home 

 by Mr. Tweedie, it was supposed by 

 Sir W. J, Hooker to be a Salpi- 

 glossis ; and it was figured and de- 

 scribed by him under the name of 

 Salpiglossis interjrifdlia in the Bo- 

 tanical Magazine, t. 3113. It was 

 afterwards figured and described by 

 the late Professor Don, in Siceet's 

 British Flower - Garden, second 

 series, t. 172, under the name of 

 Nierem bergia phcenicea ; and, lastly, 

 by Dr. Lindley in the Botanical 

 Register, t. 1626, as Petdnia viold- 

 cea. It is very remarkable that 

 there should have been so many 

 doubts among botanists as to the 

 genus of the purple Petunia, as it 

 appears to common observers to 

 differ from the white only in coloiu' ; 

 and it is also remarkable that it 

 should have been first called phce- 

 nicea, which signifies crimson, when 

 it is decidedly of a violet-coloured 

 purple. The flowers of the white 

 Petunia, and of all the hybrids 

 raised from it, are fragrant, parti- 

 cularly at night ; while tlie few 

 hybrids raised between P. violacea 

 and P. blcolor, and the numerous 

 seedlings of the former species, have 

 no fragrance. P. blcolor does not 

 hybridise so freely as the ether 



1 kinds, and it is more tender ; but 

 j all the dark-mouthed and streaked 

 i kinds are raised partly from it, and 

 I they are generally hybrids between 

 it and the white Petunia ; the latter 

 kind producing the seed, asP. blcolor 

 rarely ripens seeds. No plants are 

 more easily trained than the Petu- 

 nias ; and, with a little care and 

 attention, they may be made to cover 

 trellis -work or wire frames of various 

 different forms. 



Peyrou'sia. — Iridece. — A genus 

 of bulbous-rooted plants with rather 

 small flowers, generally in corymbs,, 

 which require the usual treatment 

 of Cape bulbs. — See I'xia. 



Phage 'lia, — Hydrophyllece. — 

 Very curious plants which produce 

 their flowers in one-sided fascicles, 

 Avhich unroll themselves slowly. 

 The flowers are rather pretty in 

 themselves, but are half hidden by 

 their- bracts and coarse-growing 

 leaves. All the species are natives 

 of America, but some are found in 

 California, some in Peru, and some 

 even as far south as the Straits of 

 Magellan. Some of the species are 

 perennials, and others biennial or 

 annual. The Californian species are 

 annuals with blue flowers, but the 

 South American kinds are biennials, 

 or perennials with pink flowers. 

 They all grow freely in any common 

 garden soil. 



PHiEDRANA'ssA. — AmarylUda- 

 cece. — A verj^ curious bulb found by 

 Mr. Hartweg in Peru, and which con- 

 sequently requires a greenhouse in 

 j this country. The bulbs should l>e 

 I potted in rich, light, sandy loam, 

 and kept very moist while they are 

 in a growing state, but quite dry 

 during their season of rest. The 

 name of Pkoedrandssa signifies a 

 gay and beautiful queen. 



Pha'ius. — OrcJdddceoi. — P. dl- 

 I bus, which is an exceedingly beautiful 

 I East Indian epiphyte, is remarkable 



