J^icotiana longijiora, Petunias, and other Annuals. 325 



er; bellissima, lilac, with very large crimson eye; speciosa, very 

 dark scarlet crimson, rather star shaped, darker centre; carnas- 

 cens, a light rosy pink. The parent species is of a bright rosy 

 red, a small and delicate eye, and a flower about the size of the 

 common P. repens. We believe Mr. Lee, of Brookline, has a 

 seedling raised from a few seeds received from London the past 

 spring, which is very dark and a beautiful variety. We hope 

 that plants will be perpetuated by cuttings. 



A bed, containing as many varieties as we have just enume- 

 rated, would be a most brilliant show, and no doubt a greater 

 number might be raised by impregnation and a judicious inter- 

 mixture of colors, after a few distinct ones have been produced 

 accidentally. We esteem the parent species as one of the hand- 

 somest plants that has been added to our annuals for a long time, 

 and worthy of universal cultivation, either in the green-house or 

 the open border. 



We would suggest the impregnation of this species with some 

 of the most showy perennial species. Might not very charming 

 varieties be thus produced? Might not their pyramidal or co- 

 rymbose panicles be in part added to its already profuse though 

 flat clusters? And might not a stronger and more robust habit, 

 without the loss of its annual character, be acquired by such a 

 process. We throw out these hints, with the hope that the ex- 

 periment will be tried. 



JVicoiiana longiflbra. — The present season we have flowered, 

 for the first time, this very pretty and desirable species of Nicot- 

 iana. The seeds of this species, with a variety of other kinds, 

 were presented to us by a friend, who received them from South 

 America, we believe the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, where it is 

 found growing abundantly. This species was first introduced in- 

 to England in 1831, and was figured in 8weeVs British Flower 

 Garden, 2d series, t. 196. 



In general appearance, the flower of this species somewhat re- 

 sembles the Petunia nyctaginiPiora. The tube of the corolla is 

 four or five inches long. The limb spreading, very deeply 

 5-lobed, and the flower, when in its full expansion, measuring 

 from the tip of the lobes nearly two inches in diameter. They 

 are of a clear, though not pure white; the under side of the co- 

 rolla, together with the tube, is of a greenish tint, and the flower, 

 after closing, changes to a dull purple. 



The plants attain the height of three feet in good soil, with a 

 main stem branching ofF close to the root into numerous erect 

 laterals, each lateral again throwing out others, terminated with 

 one of the tubular flowers. The blossoms do not open, like 

 most of the plants of this family, until the afternoon, and fade and 

 close again early in the morning. But they have a beautiful ap- 

 pearance at eve, and give out a perceptible, though very slight 



