42 SALPIGLOSSIS C0CCLVEA. 



erect branching stems, clothed with clammy hairs. Its colour is ' a clear vivid 

 tender scarlet,' relieved by darker veins of the same tint. 



Its cultivation is precisely that of the other varieties ; the seeds require the aid 

 of a hot-bed, and are best sown in March, in pots of light sandy loam ; they should 

 be thinly distributed, and as soon as the seedlings are an inch or two high, 

 abundance of air should be admitted if the weather is sufficiently mild to allow of 

 it, for the Salpiglots are by no means tender, and will not bear ' coddling.' "When 

 the young plants are large enough to handle without injury, they may be transferred 

 in small patches to larger pots of light, rich, but well drained soil. If, however, 

 the seedlings have come up thickly, they will need transplanting separately, or 

 thinning out. In either case they should, when repotted, be returned to the 

 hot-bed, and be kept close for a few days ; after which, about the end of April, they 

 may be placed in a cold frame, and gradually hardened off before planting out in 

 May. A light rich soil, composed of a little leaf mould and thoroughly decayed 

 manure, mixed with sandy loam, suits them best. They will form a very beautiful 

 bed, where the ' massing' system is adopted, but are equally valuable for planting 

 in clumps in the nrixt borders, and will flower through the summer. 



"We have termed the Salpiglossis coccinea an annual ; but although it may be 

 treated as such, there can be but little doubt that it is, with the other varieties, 

 really of perennial duration, and, like the Petunias, may be perpetuated by cuttings. 

 The Salpiglossis pida and atropurpurea have been preserved through the winter in 

 the open ground, covered by a pot during frost ; but unless in very favourable 

 localities, they would hardly survive any but our mildest winters. "Where the 

 means of preserving the seedlings through the winter, either in a cold frame or 

 greenhouse, are at hand, the plants will flower earlier and stronger if raised in 

 autumn. 



The older varieties, of which we have spoken, especially pida, are not a whit 

 less interesting than coccinea ; there are also yellow and blue-flowered varieties, and 

 one with pure white flowers, which is very pretty ; seeds of this, as well as of 

 coccinea and all the varieties named, may be had of the principal London Seedsmen. 



The Salpiglots form a connecting link between the Scrophulariacece or Fig-worts, 

 and the Solanacea or jSight-shades ; the tendency to a didynamous arrangement of 

 the four perfect stamens shews their relationship to the first Order, whilst the 

 presence of a fifth stamen, in a rudimentary form, it is true, marks its near 

 approach to the latter. 



The generic term, Salpiglossis, is derived from salpiggos, a trumpet, and glossis 

 a tongue ; in allusion to the trumpet-like form of the flowers, and flattened style. 

 The wild species and varieties are natives of Chili. 



