356 APPENDIX. 



striped varieties of the Four O'clocks. The long-flowered (Mir a- 

 bilis longiflora), sweetrscented, is also well known, but is not so 

 common as the first-named. The hybridization of these varieties 

 with each other through the long-flowered, has brought forth new 

 varieties most remarkably and singularly colored. The same 

 plant, and even the same branch, produces very different flowers, 

 sometimes of one color only, and others striped ; in some of the 

 rarer varieties, that are distinguished by the elongated tube of 

 the flower, are recognized the traits of the Mirabilis lonyiflora. 

 These produce but very few seeds, and yet they give us two per- 

 fectly distinct kinds, which is a very remarkable, and, perhaps, 

 an exceptional example of the fruitful products obtained by 

 hybridization. Their cultivation is not different from the com- 

 mon varieties; they are multiplied by seeds, or by the roots,* 

 that are tuberous, like those of the Dahlia, and 'which offer the 

 same resources for increasing and preserving the several varieties. 

 Among other names already mentioned for this admirable flower, 

 it is known as World's Wonder, Evening Beauty, Afternoon 

 Ladies, &c. 



PERILLA NANKINENSIS. 



Perilla Nankinensis. Labiate family. An annual her- 

 baceous plant, growing from two and a half to three feet high, 

 branching stems well covered with an ample foliage of a dark purple, 

 almost black. Leaves petiolate, opposed to each other, entirely 

 oval, pointed ends, the sides dented, smooth and glossy on both sur- 

 faces, sometimes slightly crisped, and exhaling, when rubbed be- 

 tween the fingers, an odor like cinnamon. The flowers are fascic- 

 ulated at the axils of the larger leaves, bilabiate, rose or pale 

 purple, small, but very numerous, and producing but little effect. 

 The principal ornamental 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 robust tempera- 

 ment, and its being an annual, make it very appropriate for masses 

 in the borders of a flower-garden, where, from its sombre appear- 

 ance, it contrasts agreeably with the brighter tints of other flowers. 



