10 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



The Phoenicians found on their coast an abundance of 

 the mollusk (Nassa purpura of naturalists) , from which 

 they extracted a purple pigment. This became to them 

 an important article of trade,, and the world resounded 

 with the praises of " Tyrian dye." The ancients had not 

 many colours, and it was but natural the Greeks should 

 name the purple they so much esteemed after the people 

 who produced it. Thus it became known to them as the 

 " Phoenician colour," and the Romans subsequently modi- 

 fied the term, so that with them it became the " Punic 

 colour." Thus the botanist has been provided with a 

 choice of two (in addition to many more) terms available 

 for the indication of the colours of flowers. This purple 

 or crimson flower of South America he has named Petunia 

 phoenicea, and the brilliant glory pea of New Zealand he 

 has named Clianthus pnniceus, which, of course, was no 

 more known to the Tyrians and Sidonians than the flower 

 before us. 



The petunia, is almost a tobacco, and it will interest 

 the observant loiterer in the garden to compare it with 

 the noble Virginia tobacco, which is well worth growing 

 for its stately carriage and beautiful flowers. Indeed, the 

 petunia is a tobacco, for its Brazilian name peinn, from 

 which is derived petunia, means tobacco, and it is fair 

 to suppose that, if the plant were dried and prepared, it 

 would be found to possess distinctly fragrant and narcotic 

 properties. A sheet of petunias in full flower is a glorious 

 sight, and the odour the flowers emit when the sun shines 

 full upon them is agreeable, but the plant is not a nice 

 one to handle or examine ; its leafage is unhandsome, its 

 habit ungainly, its substance is clammy, and certainly 

 does at times give the nose a reminder of tobacco. 



