CHAP. IV. ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 303 



GENTIANACE^]. 

 Exacum. 



E. tetragonum. A native of swampy fields in Bengal ; bears, 

 during the Kains, large beautiful azure-coloured flowers with 

 golden anthers ; well deserving a place in the garden, though I 

 have never yet met with it there. 



SOLANACE^]. 



Petunia. 



1. P. nyctaginiflora. With white, sweet-scented flowers, and 



2. P. Phoenicea. With bright crimson flowers, together with 

 their numerous hybrids, producing flowers of every shade of 

 colour intermediate between the two, and in particular one with 

 a green border, are, while in full beauty of bloom, about the 

 most brilliant ornaments of the garden. By nature a perennial, 

 the Petunia can in this country be cultivated only as an annual ; 

 but in gardens where it has been once grown, it thoroughly 

 establishes itself, coming up self-sown on the approach of each 

 Cold season. These self-sown plants blossom in January, are 

 rampant in their growth, and generally lose their hybrid pecu- 

 liarities and resume their original type. It is best therefore to 

 procure fresh seed from Europe annually. Sow in October in 

 pans, and put out the plants when two or three inches high ; 

 these will not come into blossom much before April, from which 

 time to the Kains they will afford a delightful display of flowers. 

 The Petunia likes a rich soil. 



Nicotiana. 

 TOBACCO. 



N. Tabacum. Bears pretty delicately-pink flowers. This and 

 other species of Tobacco, though not usually met with in Indian 

 gardens, are by no means wanting in ornamental character, and 

 a plant or two well deserve a place there. Dr. Anderson gives 

 the names of as many as sixteen species cultivated in the 

 Botanical Gardens. Sow the seed in October. 



