SALPIGLOSSIS COCCINEA. 



41 



The 6. lutea famishes the roots used medicinally in this country, but many of the 

 other species fully equal it in their tonic properties, and arc successfully substituted 

 for it in the regions to which they are indigenous. 



The name of the genus is probably derived from that of Gentius, a King of 

 Illyria, who is said by Pliny to have discovered the virtues of some of the 



species. 



SALPIGLOSSIS COCCINEA. 



Scarlet Salpiglossis. 

 Linnean Class — Didynamia. Order — Axgiosperma. Natural Order — Scuophulamace.k 



Among the numerous striking phenomena displayed by the vegetable world, one of 

 the most interesting to the Florist is the remarkable tendency exhibited by many 

 plants to ' sport ' their colours ; in other words, to produce seed which gives rise 

 to plants bearing flowers of different tints to those of the parent. The inducing 

 cause of this variation is, and will probably remain, one of those insolvable 

 mysteries before which our limited intelligence must bow ; all that we know is, 

 that in some genera and species the disposition to ' sport ' is manifested more 

 strongly than in others, and that advantage may be taken of this by the Florist to 

 increase the variety of tints prevailing in such species. We do not here refer to 

 the change of tint produced by hybridization, whether natural or artificial, but to 

 the spontaneous variations in colour which are known to occur in some plants, 

 when all possibility of cross-impregnation is removed. 



The Salpiglossis sinuata (and under this head we include the so-called species, 

 picta, straminea, atro-purpurea, and Barclayana, which by Dr. Lindley and Mr. 

 Bentham are regarded only as varieties of sinuata,) is one of those plants in which 

 this mutability of hue is strongly developed. Already the varieties in cultivation 

 included examples of nearly every imaginable tint, but red or scarlet has hitherto 

 been wanting among them ; this colour is now attained, affording us another proof 

 of the incorrectness of the theory propounded by some Botanists, that the three 

 primarytints cannot be evoked in the same species. 



The Salpiglossis coccinea is, without contradiction, a most valuable addition to our 

 list of half-hardy annuals, and will, we hope, form a permanent variety ; though 

 we confess our inability to explain how it is that the residt of a ' sport' should 

 itself assume a constant character. In its general habit and characters, it resembles 

 the other varieties ; like them attaining a height of one-and-a-half to two feet, with 



