VERBENAS 461 



base, 2 feet high. Leaves oval, wrinkled, hairy, with wavy teeth, the 

 margins turned back. Flowers white or pink, fragrant at night. Green- 

 house sub-shrub. 



V. TRIFIDA (cut into three). Stems 3 feet high, hairy. Leaves with 

 three lance-shaped segments; margins turned back. Flowers purple. 

 Greenhouse sub-shrub. Introduced from Mexico, 1818. 



V. VENOSA (veined). Stems unbranched, sub-erect, 2 feet high. 

 Leaves oblong, deeply-toothed, wrinkled, the margins turned back, half 

 clasping stem. Flowers lilac or bluish. Half-hardy sub-shrub. Intro- 

 duced from Brazil, 1830. 



Garden verbenas. . Bedding varieties are very numerous. The following 

 brief selection is merely suggestive, and the reader should 

 also refer to nurserymen's current lists. 



Basilisk, bright scarlet. 



Beethoven, deep rosy lake. 



Blue Beauty, deep blue. 



Boule de Ncige, white, fra 



Crimson King, bright crim 



Lady Coidey, pink, with I Sunny Thoughts, rosy c 



Lady Londcsho 

 Melindris Splcndcm 

 Purple King, purph 



Stadtgartner Schicarz, deep 



Verbenas are best grown as bedding plants. In pre- 

 paring the beds attention must be paid to proper drainage, 

 the soil should be rich and light, and in a sunny position. They are 

 propagated by seeds, cuttings, and divisions. Seeds should be sown in 

 March or April on a hot-bed or in a warm frame, and the seedlings 

 planted out in the second half of May. Cuttings are more satisfactory 

 than seeds, because the latter cannot be relied upon to produce the 

 variety. If the old roots have been preserved through the winter in the 

 gi-eenhouse, the young shoots that appear in spring may be taken off and 

 inserted in sandy soil, in a frame, when they will root quickly. To 

 preserve a neat appearance of the bed, the shoots will require pegging 

 down, and if, when this is done, the points are nipped out, it will induce 

 a dwarf bushy habit with more abundant flowers. Division of the roots 

 should only be practised with the more hardy sorts. A careful watch 

 must be kept for green-fly and mildew, either of which may be fatal 

 to a bed of Verbenas if allowed a little headway. 



Description of Plate 220. A, Verbena Aubletia. Fig. 1, a section of 



Piates220and22i. the flower, enlarged ; 2, the seed, natural size and en- 

 larged ; 3, a seedling. B, V. tenera. 



Plate 221. A group of Bedding Verbenas of garden origin. Fig. 1, 

 an enlarged flower ; 2, a section of same ; 3, the style, enlarged. 

 "I-— 35 



