288 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



has effected such a revolution as in this ; for from the flimsy 

 flowers of the old white, and the pointed blossoms of the 

 old purple, have been produced flowers of circular outline, 

 with thick corollas, and fluctuating beautiful colors. Petu- 

 nias are propagated either by seed or cuttings. Seeds may 

 be sown in March, on a hot-bed, and the plants treated as 

 half-hardy annuals. Cuttings strike freely placed in a frame, 

 with bottom heat : they should be planted in March and 

 April, being obtained from old plants placed in heat, and 

 from the tops of the earlier-planted cuttings, if a supply of 

 young plants was not provided the previous autumn. The 

 young plants require to be separately potted, hardened in a 

 cold frame, and planted out in May, when the danger of 

 frost is passed. A few plants should be kept in pots, rather 

 stunted, for preservation through the winter in order to sup- 

 ply cuttings in spring ; or young plants may be struck in 

 August, and well hardened, and kept in the greenhouse on 

 an airy shelf through the winter : such plants will, if vigor- 

 ous and healthy, bloom earlier than spring cuttings. For 

 this reason, a supply, more or less abundant, should always 

 be struck at the end of the summer to keep over for plant- 

 ing out in spring. 



P. nyctaginiflora (large-flowered) ; half-hardy perennial ; 18 

 inches; flowers white, in June; La Plata; 1823. P. violacea 

 (violaceous) ; half-hardy perennial ; 18 inches ; flowers rose-pur- 

 ple, in June ; Buenos Ayres; 1831. This is sometimes called 

 P. Phcenicea. 



The names of the florists' varieties are arbitrary. Fine 

 varieties may be selected from florists' catalogues. The 

 double varieties are better fitted for the greenhouse than the 

 garden. 



PHACA. [Leguminosae.] Hardy herbaceous perennials. 

 Soil, sandy loam, Increased by seeds or division. The 



