XXIX.] THE EARLY PETUNIAS. 467 



folia* This is a neater plant than the other, with a 

 decumbent base, narrower leaves and small violet - 

 purple flowers, which have a very broad or ventricose 

 tube scarcely twice longer than the slender calyx - 

 lobes. This neat little plant has been known under 

 a variety of names, having been referred to Nierem- 

 bergia by two or three botanists. Lindley was the 

 first to refer it to the genus petunia, and called it 

 Petunia violacea, the name which it still bears. It 

 was also early known as Petunia phcenicea, but this 

 name is forgotten by the present generation of gar- 

 deners. It became popular immediately upon its intro- 

 duction. In August, 1833, Joseph Harrison wrote 

 that it was "one of the most valuable acquisitions 

 that has been made to our collections of late years. "t 

 Petunia violacea early hybridized with the older 

 white petunia, P. nyctaginiflora, and as early as 1837 

 a number of these hybrids — indistinguishable from 

 the common garden forms of the present day — were 

 illustrated in colors in the Botanical Magazine. Sir 

 W. J. Hooker, who described these hybrids, declared 

 that "it must be confessed that here, as in many 

 other vegetable productions, the art and skill of the 

 horticulturist has improved nature." "Cultivation 

 alone," he wrote, "has, indeed, very much increased 

 the size of the flowers and foliage of this plant 

 [P. violacea], so that it can scarcely be recognized 

 as belonging to the same species as the native speci- 

 mens sent by Mr. Tweedie." This was about the 

 time that Phlox Driimmondii was becoming popular 

 in England, having been sent there from Texas, in 



*Bot. Mag. t. 3113. 



t Florictdttiral Cabinet, i. 144. 



