316 BKECK'S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



PERILLA. 



Perilla Nankintfnsis. Purple-leaved Perilla. An an- 

 nual, growing from two to two and one-half feet high ; stems 

 branching, well covered with an ample foliage of a dark- 

 purple, almost black. Leaves petioled, opposite, oval, with 

 pointed ends, the sides dented, smooth and glossy on both 

 surfaces, sometimes slightly crisped and exhaling, when 

 rubbed, an odor like cinnamon. The flowers are at the axils 

 of the larger leaves, bilabiate, rose or pale-purple, small, 

 but very numerous and producing but little effect. The 

 principal merit of this plant consists in the strange color 

 of the foliage, which contrasts in a remarkable manner 

 with that of most cultivated plants ; its fine habit, its ro- 

 bust terperament, and its being an annual, make it very 

 appropriate for masses in the borders of a flower-garden. 

 Seeds scattered on the ground in autumn will vegetate in 

 the spring, and produce an abundance of plants ; or the 

 seed may be sown in a mild hot-bed or cold frame in 

 April, and transplanted to the garden in June. 



PETUNIA. 



[Said to be from pctun, the Brazilian name for Tobacco, a plant to which the 

 Petunia is closely related.] 



Petunia yiolacea. Purple Petunia. Introduced into 

 England from South America in 1831. This now very 

 common plant was at that time considered a valuable ac- 

 quisition to the flower-garden. We now wonder how a 

 flower-garden could be formed without the Petunia, the 

 Portulaca, the Verbena, Drummond's Phlox, and a host 

 of other ornamental plants now considered indispensible, 

 which have been introduced since that time. The fine 

 rosy-purple flowers of this species make a grand display 

 through all the summer months, and in September and Oc- 



