PENTSTEMONS ^^^ 



species. Phygelius capensis (of the Cape). Stem erect, 



branched, 3 feet high. Leaves oval or oval-lanceshaped. 

 Flowers brilliant vermilion, 1^ inch long; June to September. Intro- 

 duced 1855. Perennial. 



■ Cultivation. ^ ^^^^^ ^^^"^' ^^1^ manured, is the best soil for the 



growth of Phygelius. It will succeed quite well out of 

 doors if grown in a warm sunny position. It may be propagated either 

 by means of seeds or by cuttings. Seeds should be sown in a little heat 

 in spring, and the seedlings transferred, after the hardening stage, to 

 the garden. Cuttings of the young shoots may be struck in autumn or . 

 spring in gentle heat. The underground stems run and root freely. It 

 IS a good plant for a sunny corner against a wall. 



PENTSTEMONS 



Natural Order Scrophularine^. Genus Fentstemon 



Pentstemon (Greek, j^ente, five, and stevion, a stamen). A genus of 

 _ between sixty and seventy species of perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, 

 mostly hardy, with erect branches, opposite leaves, and showy flowers. 

 The calyx is deeply five-lobed, the corolla tubular, more or less swollen 

 and two-lipped. Stamens five— two long, two short, and one imperfect. 

 The capsule opens by valves to discharge the numerous seeds. The 

 species are natives of North America and Mexico. 



History. ^^^^ "^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ beautiful American plants, Fent- 



stemons are of sucli recent discovery that they have no 

 history to speak of. The name Fentstemon might be applied fitly to 

 other genera of plants, but its fitness lies in the fact that while these 

 plants agree witli most other species of Scrophularinej^ in having but 

 four perfect stamens, the fifth and sterile one in this genus is large and 

 as prominent as either of the others. According to Loudon, the first 

 species to be introduced was F.puhescens in 1758, and F. Iwvigatus in 

 1776, followed by F. camimnulatus and P. harhatus a few years before 

 the close of the century. But most of those at present grown have made 

 their first appearance in British gardens during the nineteenth century 

 Of these, F. glaher dates from 1811, F. gracilis from 1824, P. gentianoides 

 1825, P difvsit, 1826, P Wrlghtn 1850. and P. Eatonii 1883. There 

 l.as been mucli experin.enting in the way of hybridisation, and the 

 result IS a splendid lot of florists' varieties, many the progeny of 

 i . gentianoules crossed with P difasus and P Cohwa. To-day these 



