Composites Zinnia. 241 



and the pappus consists of two bristles. The species are all 

 American, and chiefly from Mexico. The name is commemo- 

 rative. 



1. Z. elegans (fig. 129). In the wild form the flowers are 

 usually of some scarlet shade, but under cultivation it has 

 given birth to varieties with white, yellow, orange, pink, 

 crimson, and purple flowers, and many intermediate tints and 

 mixtures rarely seen in flowers. There are also ' double '- 

 flowered varieties and a dwarf strain. One of the great qualities 

 of this plant is the durability of its flowers. 



Z. Mexicana, syn. Z. aurea, and Z. Ghiesbrechtii, have 

 orange flowers, the former of prostrate and the latter of erect 

 habit. There are also other species, but none equal to the 

 above. 



16. POLtMNIA. 



Herbs with alternate or opposite usually very large leaves. 

 Flower-heads in corymbs, ray usually yellow, and the disk dark 

 purple. Eay- florets female ; disk-florets male. Pappus none. 

 The species, about eight or ten in number, are natives of 

 North and South America, and those in cultivation are grown 

 mainly for the fine effect of their foliage in the 6 sub-tropical 

 garden.' P. Canadensis, P. Uvedalia, and P. maculata are 

 the species usually seen. The two former are nearly or quite 

 hardy. We may here mention a few other Compositce with 

 ornamental foliage employed in the same way, though they 

 are mostly tender subjects. Ferdindnda eminens, more cor- 

 rectly Cosmophyllum cacalicefolium, a native of Mexico, at- 

 taining a height of 3 or 4 yards, and bearing leaves 18 inches 

 or 2 feet across. Schistocdrpha blcolor, syn. Perymenium 

 discolor, is another allied plant, from Oaraccas, with large 

 ornamental foliage. Montanoa heracleifolia, syn. Uhdea bi- 

 pinnatifida, and improperly called Montagncea, grows 12 

 to 15 feet high, and is valuable for its noble foliage. The 

 genus Verbesina may also be included here as furnishing 

 some decorative species. It is characterised by having a flat 

 receptacle with chaffy scales and flattened achenes with two 

 bristle-like awns. Like the preceding plants they are gigantic 

 herbs or shrubs, and more ornamental in foliage than inflore- 

 scence. V. 'aldta glgdntea and pinnatifida or Sartorii are 

 the species usually grown. 



