PETUNIA 



PETUNIA 



1285 



herbs of straggling or decumbent habit, pubescent and 

 usually viscid, with opposite entire Ivs. and large showy 

 axillary flowers. The genus is closely allied to Salpi- 

 glossis. being distinguished by having 5 perfect sta- 

 mens, whereas that genus has 4. The calyx is 5-parted, 

 and, in the cultivated species, several times shorter 

 than the corolla, which is long-salverform or somewhat 

 funnelform and indistinctly 5-lobed. The colors are 

 white to light purple, not blue, clear red nor yellow. 



Petunias are of the easiest culture. They demand a 

 warm, open, sunny place. Seeds may be sown directly 

 in the open, or the plants may be started in flats or pots 

 indoors for early results. The plants are 

 tender and therefore should not be trusted 

 in the open until settled weather comes. 

 Thin the plants to 12-18 in. apart. They 

 bloom when very small, and continue to blos- 

 som as they grow until destroyed by frost. 

 The common Petunias are rather weedy in 

 habit, but their great profuseness of bloom 

 under all conditions makes them useful and 

 popular. They are particularly useful for 

 mussing against shrubbery, for they make 

 a florid undergrowth with almost no care. 

 Some of the modern improved named varie- 

 ties are very choice plants, and one would 

 scarcely believe, if he were ignorant of the 

 genus, that they represent the same species 

 as the flowers of 25 years ago. These high- 

 bred types require more care in the grow- 

 ing. They would best be started indoors, 

 and be given the choicest positions in the 

 open garden. Petunias are tractable as 

 winrer subjects under glass. The best pro- 

 cedure is to sow seeds in late summer or 

 early fall and to grow stocky plants in pots; 

 but old plants can be lifted on the approach 

 of cold weather, cut back, and taken inside 

 for winter bloom. They require cool treat- 

 ment, a night temperature of 45 to 50 seem- 

 ing to suit them well. 



nyctaginifl6ra, Juss. Fig. 1727. Tall 

 and relatively stout, usually growing erect: 

 Ivs. large and rather thick, oval-oblong, up- 

 per ones nearly or quite sessile and the 

 lower ones narrowed into a distinct petiole: 

 fls. dull white, long-tubed (the tube three 

 or four times the length of the calyx), fra- 

 grant at evening. Argentina. B.M. 2552. Occasionally 

 seen in old gardens. 



violacea, Lindl. Stems slender: Ivs. oval or ovate, 

 sessile or very short-stalked : fls. smaller, broad-tubed 

 (the tube twice or less the length of the linear calyx- 

 lobes), rose-red or violet, the limb relatively short. 

 Argentina. B.R. 19:1626. B.M. 3113 (as Salpiglossis 

 inteyrifoUa). Not now in cult, in its pure form. 



hybrida, Hort. Figs. 1728-30. The common Petunia, 

 a hybrid derivative of the two preceding. For history, 

 see Bailey, "Survival of the Unlike," Essay 29. P.M. 

 2:173 (as P. nyctagini flora violacea). B.M. 3556. This 

 type is wonderfully variable, but it differs markedly 

 from either stem parent: from P. nyctaginiflora in its 

 broader tube and many colors; from P. violacea in its 

 longer tube, wider limb, and many colors; from both in 

 its much larger and multiform flowers and more stocky 

 growth. In some of the strains, the flower is very broad 

 and open, measuring 4 or 5 in. across. There are types 

 with the flowers deeply fringed ; others with star-like 

 markings radiating from the throat and extending nearly 

 or quite to the margin of the limb; others with full 

 double flowers. The colors range from white to deep 

 red-purple, and variously striped and barred. There are 

 forms of very dwarf and compact habit. Only a small 

 proportion of the seedlings of the double strains bear 

 doable flowers; but the single flowers are usually of 

 superior size or color. The reason for this small per- 

 centage of doubles is the fact that the seed must be 

 selected from single flowers, because the full double 

 oii.'s do not produce seeds. Single flowers carefully pol- 

 linated with pollen from double flowers will give seed 

 that will produce an average of 25 per cent doubles, and 

 single flowers bearing petaloid anthers will give an aver- 



age of 40 per cent doubles. Usually the weaker seed- 

 lings, in any batch of a double strain, are most likely to 

 produce double flowers. Fancy varieties may be propa- 

 gated by cuttings from plants that are carried over 

 winter, although cuttings of double forms do not always 

 come true. L H B 



Petunias in California. The Petunia is one of the 

 most variable of all flowers and shows a very strong 

 tendency to revert to the natural type. The* plant- 

 breeder cherishes not one, but many, ideals. It is the 

 perfect habit of a certain plant that one wishes to com- 



1727. Petunia nyctaginiilora (X %). 



bine with the flowers of another. Or the object is to 

 give to this flower a little heavier texture; to another 

 an added frill upon this blossom; a richer color there, a 

 greater depth to this throat, a more distinct ring here, 

 an absolutely pure tone of color in another, to intensify 

 the rainbow tints in another, to deepen the color of 

 those blotches while retaining the pure white back- 

 ground. In an ideal Petunia the first requisite is. color, 

 while form, size, texture, marking and habit are all of 

 nearly equal value. 



The California Giant Petunias originated with the 

 undersigned at Ventura, Calif., in 1888, and in their 

 present condition are the result of very careful study 

 through a long series of continuous cross-fertilizations. 

 They are grown in the open ground, and usually trans- 

 planted directly from the seed boxes. We have new 

 seedling stock each year, but retain plants the second 

 year for seeding purposes. The strain comprises 19 

 varieties, including the Ruffled Giants seen in Fig. 

 1730. The blossoms are all hand-pollinated and in the 

 case of the New Fancy Fringed Perfection Double each 

 seed-pod is handled from 7-12 times. 



To those persons who are willing to take the most 

 pains to raise the best Petunias, the undersigned would 

 say that the germination of ea v ch seed is of utmost im- 

 portance, for every seed represents an individual plant. 

 No two Petunia plants give blossoms of the same kind, 

 and there are invariably points of excellence and differ- 

 ence in all. In a packet of seed containing say 200 

 seeds, the purchaser may feel satisfied if he bring 20 

 plants to the blooming stage, and may think he has ex- 

 hausted the possibilities of the strains, whereas the 

 Petunia specialist would know that in those 180 seeds 

 which did not come to the blooming stage a wealth of 

 beauty had escaped him. Then the writer emphatically 



