PHLOX. 



234 



season of rest. It is propagated by 

 cuttings. 



Phillt'rea. • — Olehice. — Ever- 

 green bushy shrubs, natives of Eu- 

 rope and some parts of Asia, which 

 are very useful in British gardens, 

 from their shining dark-green leaves 

 and small fi-agrant white flowers. 

 They are often confounded -with the 

 Alatemus, from which, however, 

 they are botanically quite distinct, 

 as that shrub belongs to Rhamna- 

 ceae. The Phillyrea is generally 

 found in the shrubberies of old 

 mansions ; as, from the time of 

 Gerard, till Evelyn so warmly pa- 

 tronised the Holly, the Phillyrea 

 and the Alatemus were the princi- 

 pal evergreens planted in British 

 gardens ; and both were great fa- 

 vourites for topiary work, as no 

 plants are clipped more easily into 

 figures of animals, &c. All the 

 kinds are quite hardy, aud will 

 grow in any soil or situation ; and 

 they may be all propagated by seeds, 

 layers, or cuttings. 



Philo'mis. — LabiatcE. — The Je- 

 ru salem Sage. — Perennial and shrub- 

 by plants with large coarse-growing 

 glaucous leaves, greatly resembling 

 those of the common Sage, and yel- 

 low or pxu'ple flowers disposed in a 

 whorl round the joints. All the spe- 

 cies will grow in any light rich soil ; 

 and they are propagated by layers or 

 cuttings, or by dividing the root. 



Phlo'x. — Polemonidcece. — A ge- 

 nus of beautiful North American 

 perennials and one annual, of which 

 there are some species in flower al- 

 most every month in the year. They 

 thrive best in sandy loam and peat, 

 but many of the species will grow 

 in any common soil. Phlox setacea 

 is a low trailing perennial, which 

 produces its flesh-coloured flowers in 

 April and May. P. nivalis is of 

 equally low growth, and it produces 

 its white flowers at the same period. 



P. subulata seldom exceeds three 

 inches in length, and it produces its 

 beautiful flesh-coloured flowers from 

 April to June. P. canadensis has 

 blue flowers, which are produced in 

 April and May, and it grows almost 

 a foot in height. P. divaricdta 

 produces light- blue flowers from 

 April to June, and grows about the 

 same height as the former species. 

 P. ovdta and P. ovdta Lisfonidna 

 grow about one foot high, and pro- 

 duce purple flowers from May to 

 August ; and P. 2^ildsa grows about 

 one foot in height, and produces its 

 pink flowers in May and June. 

 There are above a dozen other spe- 

 cies equally low in gro-n-th and pro- 

 lific in flowers in spring or in the 

 beginning of summer ; and there 

 are a number of species which grow 

 from two to four feet in height, and 

 flower in July, August, and Sep- 

 tember. Of these may be mentioned 

 ) P. 2^aniculdta alba and paniculdta 

 I rubra; P. acuminata, which grows 

 I four feet high, and produces pink 

 flowers from May to August. P. 

 I Pyramiddlis and its several varie- 

 ! ties, P. latifblia and P. maculuta, 

 grow four feet high, and produce 

 pink or red flowers from July to 

 September; and P. multiflbra, which. 

 has a long spike of white flowers 

 about a foot and a half high, flowers 

 nearly all the summer. One of the 

 prettiest of all the kinds of Phlox is 

 a variety of P. suaveolens, raised in 

 1843, by Mr. Van Houtte, nursery- 

 man at Ghent, the flowers of which 

 are white, and a pink star in the 

 centre of each, darkest in the mid- 

 dle, and delicately shaded off. This 

 plant is sometimes called P. striata 

 delicatissima. The only annual spe- 

 cies is P. Drummondii and its va- 

 rieties, which are plants of surpass- 

 ing beauty raised annually from 

 seeds or cuttings in light sandy soil, 

 and admirably adapted for covering 



