^■ir«H»rt: 



PENTSTEMONS ^S 



certainly very striking. Others, however, prefer the 

 varieties that have distinct lines and veins of colour 

 running down the throat. This marking is technically 

 known as pencilling, and keen florists are extremely 

 particular in requiring that a pencilled flower shall be 

 very clear, definite, and well-balanced in its markings; 

 that the hncs of colour shall be unbroken and evenly 

 distributed, with no indistinct feathering or stray blotches 

 to mar the clearness of the white ground. Size of bell, 

 breadth and symmetry of the reflexed margin, strength 

 and erectness of flower-spike, and even distribution of 

 the flowers on the stems, arc other "points " in the canons 

 of a perfect Pentstemon of the real florist's type. 



It originated from a cross between Pentstemon cohcta 

 and P. HartwegU. The former was introduced from 

 America, I believe, about i6o years or thereabouts ago. 

 It bears purple and white flowers, varying in brightness 

 and depth of colour, but tending to washiness as com- 

 pared with approved flowers of the present day. 



P. HartwegU is a Mexican plant of wiry growth with 

 narrow pointed leaves and tubular scarlet flowers. The 

 combination of these two has resulted in a race of plants 

 so vastly superior to both parents that neither the 

 American nor the Mexican plants are considered worthy 

 of attention apart from botanical interest. 



Some few other species are in cultivation, the chief 

 being P. barbatus, throwing tall, sparsely clothed spikes 

 of small tubular flowers, which are, however, of a par- 

 ticularly brilliant coral scarlet. A group of these plants 

 in a herbaceous border produces in the aggregfate a very 

 striking effect. 



P. glaber is a dwarf, tufted plant of robust constitution 



which produces short loose spikes of small bell-shaped 



^lossoms in varying shades of lavender, mauve, and lilac. 



fit is easily raised from seed, and may also be propagated 



J division of the clumps; but it is only a suitable subject 



