128 PERNETTYA PEROWSKIA 



sometimes furnished with a few appressed, forward-pointing bristles or 

 short down, but usually becoming smooth in a short time. Leaves 

 alternate, dense upon the branches, ovate to oblong, very shortly stalked ; 

 J to |- in. long, J to J in. wide; toothed and spiny-pointed, hard in 

 texture. Flowers produced singly in the leaf-axils near the end of the 

 shoot, in May. Corolla white, nodding, cylindrical, about J in. long, 

 five-toothed. Calyx five-lobed, green ; stamens ten ; flower-stalk J in. 

 long. Fruit a globose berry J to J in. diameter, containing many very 

 small seeds ; it varies in colour from pure white to pink, lilac, crimson 

 and purple, or almost black. 



Native of the region about the Straits of Magellan; introduced in 

 1828. This is one of the hardiest of South American shrubs, and is rarely 

 severely injured by frost in the neighbourhood of London. Certainly it is 

 one of the finest ornamental berry-bearing shrubs we have. Its berries attain 

 their colour by early autumn, and remain on the branches through the 

 winter and following spring. The Pernettya was long strangely neglected, 

 but a great fillip to its cultivation was given by an exhibit in London 

 made about 1882 by an Irish nurseryman, Mr T. Davis, who showed a 

 number of remarkably beautiful varieties he had raised during the previous 

 twenty or more years in his own nursery. The Pernettya is about the 

 only shrub that has been cultivated and selected with a view to the 

 beauty and variety of its fruit, apart from edible qualities. In Kew, the 

 fruits are never touched by birds, although in some gardens they are 

 said to be stripped in winter possibly by pheasants. 



The chief cultural requirements of Pernettya are a cool, moist bottom, 

 and a peat soil, or a loam with which either peat or decayed leaves or 

 both should be freely mixed. It likes full sunshine, and can be propa- 

 gated by seeds, division, or cuttings. The last two are best for selected 

 varieties. I have been told that it grows well on limestone. 



Besides the various forms differing in colour of fruit, there is some 

 variation also in the size and shape of leaf. The plant known in gardens 

 as P. angustifolia is a narrower leaved form, but it is not the true P. 

 ANGUSTIFOLIA, Lindley. a distinct and perhaps not hardy species. 



PEROWSKIA ATRIPLICIFOLIA, Bentham. LABIATE. 



(Bot. Mag,, t, 8441.) 



A deciduous, semi-woody plant, 3 to 5 ft. high, with a sage-like 

 odour; branches long, stiffly erect, covered with a white, close down. 

 Leaves opposite, i to 2 ins. long, J to i in. wide ; rhomboidal or slightly 

 obovate, tapered at both ends, coarsely toothed, grey-green, and slightly 

 downy; stalk ^ to -J in. long. Panicles terminal, 9 to 12 ins. 

 long, produced in August and September, and composed of numerous 

 slender, opposite, leafless spikes, 2 to 5 ins. long. Flowers beautiful 

 violet-blue, J in. long, produced in whorls; corolla two-lipped, tubular 

 at the base ; calyx shaggy, with white hairs. The whole inflorescence 

 is covered like the stem with a white, powder-like down, which brings 

 the colour of the blossoms into greater prominence, 



