702 PAROCHETUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PELARGONIUM. 



cultivate in moist spots where it will grow 

 as in its native haunts. Three other 

 kinds, natives of North America, are 

 quite as showy. P. fimbriata has large 

 flowers with peculiar fringe-like append- 

 ages, its kidney- shaped leaves resembling 

 those of P. asarifolia, another hardy 

 species, about 9 in. high, which bears 

 similar white flowers without fringes. P. 



Parnassia palustris (Grass of Parnassus). 



caroliniana differs from P. asarifolia, in 

 having oval or heart-shaped leaves ; it 

 flowers about the same time, usually from 

 the beginning of July till the end of 

 August. These hardy Parnassias thrive 

 best in a moist peaty soil or a spongy 

 bog. Seed, division. Saxifrage order 



PAROCHETUS (Shamrock Pea). P. 

 communis is a beautiful little creeping per- 

 ennial, with Clover-like leaves, 2 to 3 in. 

 high, bearing in spring Pea-shaped 

 blossoms of a beautiful blue. It is of 

 easy culture in warm positions on the 

 rock-garden and the choice border, and 

 where the climate is too cold to grow it in 

 the open air it may be grown in a cold 

 frame. Division or seed. Nepaul. Le- 

 guminosae. 



PARROTIA (Iron Tree}. Low Hazel- 

 like trees, natives of Northern India and 

 Persia, not remarkable for their beauty of 

 flower so much as for fine colour of the 

 leaves in autumn, giving a mixture of 

 crimson, orange, and yellow, unique 

 among colours of leaves of hardy trees. 



The best known is the Persian, P. persica, 

 which in the London district in warm 

 soils is hardy. In the north it would 

 probably require a wall. 



PASSIFLORA (Passion-flower}. The 

 hardy blue Passion-flower, P. ctzrulca, so 

 often seen as a wall-climber in southern dis- 

 tricts, from its beauty and distinctness de- 

 serves to be grown wherever the climate 

 permits. It is not so suitable for arbours or 

 trellises as for walls, the heat from the walls 

 aids in ripening the wood, and so enables it 

 to withstand the winter. A southern aspect 

 is best for it, though it grows against west 

 or east walls, only requiring a good soil, 

 and, perhaps, a slight protection during 

 winter. The white variety, Constance 

 Elliot, is as hardy as the older kind. No 

 other variety of P. casrulea is so distinct, 

 and no other Passion-flower is hardy 

 enough for outdoor walls. The blue 

 Passion-flower first came from Brazil two 

 hundred years ago. 



PAULO WNIA. P. imperialis is a fine 

 flowering tree from Japan, not suitable for 

 our climate generally though in a few 

 places it succeeds. It comes into flower 

 and leaf so early, that if the winter is 

 mild and the spring late the buds and 

 often the young leaves are injured by 

 late frosts ; otherwise, there may be a 

 lovely bloom. It is fine in leaf as 

 well as in bloom ; the leaves are a 

 foot in length, and have even ex- 

 ceeded 20 in. The flowers are in erect 

 spikes, resembling in form those of a 

 Bignonia ; of a delicate mauve purple, 

 blotched inside with a deeper tint. In 

 countries a little warmer than Britain this 

 tree is very beautiful and much used in 

 public gardens and even in street planting. 

 At maturity the Paulownia assumes a dense 

 rounded head, but rarely exceeds 30 ft. in 

 height, although in some south-coast 

 gardens there are trees nearly 40 ft. in 

 height. 



If the young trees are cut back annually, 

 they make strong shoots bearing enormous 

 leaves, of sub-tropical aspect, with the 

 advantage of being much hardier than 

 the house plants used in summer to give 

 such effects. The tree is best on a light 

 deep loam. 



Pavia. See yEscuLUS. 



PELARGONIUM (Stork's Bill}. - 

 Nearly all Pelargoniums are natives of 

 the southern hemisphere, or have origin- 

 ated as hybrid or cross-bred varieties in 

 European countries. They are often 

 erroneously termed Geraniums, but al- 

 though allied to the Geranium family 

 they are distinct from it, Geraniums 

 being chiefly natives of the northern 



