LETTER XLII. 



THE GREEK VALERIAN TRIBE THE TRUMPET-FLOWER 



TRIBE. 



(Plate XLIII.) 



When we were studying the Bindweed Tribe (Vol. 

 1. p. 161.), I neglected to mention a set of common 

 plants, closely allied to it, but in general not twiners ; 

 namely, the Greek Valerian Tribe, or Polemoni- 

 aceous Plants. Let me now proceed to supply that 

 omission. 



You cannot but be acquainted with the genus Phlox, 

 or, as the old gardeners called it, Lychnidea, the spe- 

 cies of which are among the showiest of common peren- 

 nials, whether they rise erect from the ground with 

 broad, deep-green, opposite leaves, and dense clusters 

 of purple flowers, terminating the branches, or lie 

 prostrate among rock-work, with their slender stems 

 covered by sharp scales, and a few neat hlac or white 

 blossoms just raising themselves from the soil. 



CohcBa is another well known genus, that overruns 

 the forests of Mexico with its annual stems, and which, 

 on that account, has been long since transferred to the 

 gardens of this country, where it will grow between 

 • two and three hundred feet in a single summer, com- 

 pletely hiding a large extent of treillage with its 



