74 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



beginning of the world flowering by the wayside, in the 

 midst of observant and imaginative men, and they have 

 woven it into the web of their social relations so com- 

 j^letely that it is not only a familiar flower, but a symbol 

 of deep significance, and an emblem, too, of many thoughts 

 and virtues. The pentstemon is a new flower from the 

 new world ; that is to say, it was created at the same 

 time as the violet, but has quite lately been discovered, 

 and perhaps there is needed the observation of centuries to 

 create a history for it and make it a rejDresentative of feel- 

 ings and fancies of the tender kind that usually underlie a 

 genuine love of flowers. 



- Two or three species of pentstemon were known to 

 English gardens at the close of the last century, but the 

 majority of the kinds that have obtained favour have been 

 in the country only soine fifty years or so. The most 

 important is P. gentinuoides, introduced from Mexico in 

 1846, as from this a considerable jsroportion of the cul- 

 tivated varieties have been obtained by crossing with 

 P- cobaa, introduced in 1835, and P. difftisiim, introduced 

 in 1826. There are about fifty species known, and all of 

 them are located in the central and southern parts of the 

 United States and the more temperate parts of Mexico. 

 In addition to the three just named it may be proper 

 to mention, as worthy of attention, P. acumiuatus, with 

 reddish - purple flowers ; P IFrigkti, with flowers rosy 

 carmine; and P. speciosus, with fine flowers, which are 

 usually of a rich blue colour, but are liable to variation. 

 The colours that prevail in the pentstemons are shades of 

 red, blue, rose, carmine, and white ; there is somewhat of 

 a tendency to the production of ineffective shades of colour 

 when the species are crossed and seedlings are raised iu 



