GARDEN FLOWERS. 311 



Dahurica (Dahurian) ; hardy perennial ; i foot ; flowers blue, in 

 May; Dahuria ; 1812. P. grandiflora (large-flowered) ; hardy 

 perennial; i foot; flowers pink, in May; France; 1819. P- 

 Sibirica (Siberian) ; hardy perennial ; i foot ; flowers blue, in 

 June; Siberia; 1801. P. Virginica (Virginian); hardy peren- 

 nial; 1 8 inches; flowers blue, in May ; North America ; 1799. 



PUNICA. Pomegranate. [Myrtaceae.] Beautiful decidu- 

 ous trees. Light rich soil. Propagated by cuttings, layers, 

 or grafting. Should be wintered in a cellar. 



P. granatum (common) ; half-hardy tree ; 12 feet; flowers red 

 or whitish, single or double, in July ; south of Europe ; 1548. 



PURSLANE. See PORTULACA. 



PYRETHRUM. Feverfew. [Compositae.] A rather large 

 genus, consisting mostly of hardy perennials, of the easiest 

 culture ; not very ornamental, with the exception of a double- 

 flowered variety of P. Parthenium, which is showy, blooming 

 in profusion throughout the summer and autumn. This va- 

 riety is multiplied by cuttings, planted during summer under 

 a hand-glass ; the other hardy kinds by division. There are 

 also some free-growing greenhouse shrubs, of little impor- 

 tance. 



Chrysanthemum (Pyrethrum sinense). This popular plant 

 is quite hardy ; but as it blooms late in autumn, just at the 

 season severe frost often occurs, it sometimes happens, 

 that out-door plants which are one day in full beauty, and 

 almost the only ornaments of the garden, are the next 

 day blackened and cut up by the frost. For high culture, 

 the plants require to be renewed every year by cuttings. 

 They will spread in the ground and bloom for years ; but 

 if a dwarf plant is wanted, and the flowers are required in 

 perfection, they must be renewed by cuttings. One plan, 

 the object of which is to secure small dwarf plants in pots, 

 is. in July, when the plants have grown two feet or, more in 



