306 GAEDEN PLANTS. PART IT. 



of India ; produces small vivid scarlet flowers, relieved beauti- 

 fully by the finely-divided deep -green foliage. When trained 

 up a pole the plant, as seen from the distance, has somewhat 

 of the effect of a Cypress. Sow the seed in August. There is a 

 variety with white flowers. 



2. Q. Phoenicea. A pretty creeper, with small heart-shaped 

 leaves ; produces pale red flowers of the size of a four-anna piece. 



Pharbitis. 



GAYBINE. 



1. P. limbata. A native of Java ; described in the seedman's 

 catalogue as producing flowers with a "fine pointed star of 

 intense violet-blue, with a broad margin of white." In the plants 

 raised in my garden I have not found the white of the flower so 

 pure and defined as one might from the description expect it 

 to be, but the flowers are of wonderful beauty still. May be 

 had nearly always in blossom by successive sowings. 



2. P. Nil. Kola Dana of the natives; a creeper bearing a 

 beautiful flower of the purest azure blue ; a native of India. Its 

 commonness as a weed alone excludes it from the garden. 



POLEMONIACE^]. 

 Phlox. 



P. Drummondi. A delightful annual, with numerous varieties, 

 bearing lovely trusses of flowers, varying through each shade of 

 colour from white to scarlet and rose colour ; one of the indis- 

 pensable ornaments of an Indian garden. Sow the seed in 

 October in gumlahs, and when the plants are two inches high 

 put them out into the ground. They love a very rich soil, and 

 look best in small beds by themselves. They come early into 

 bloom, and continue in their beauty till the middle of May. 

 Where the soil is left undisturbed, they come up again self-sown 

 the following Cold season ; but Sir J. Paxton states, " they do 

 not luxuriate long in the same soil." The self-sown plants should 

 be carefully preserved, as, though not equal to those raised from 

 seed fresh from Europe, they may supply their place should the 

 European seed, as is often the case, fail to germinate. 



