DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 109 
to the florist, their value for ornamental purposes cannot 
be compared with that of some of the improved old stand- 
ard varieties of the flower-garden. The science, skill, and 
perseverance, of amateur gardeners and florists, have 
transformed many comparatively inferior species of flow- 
ering plants from a state of simplicity and inelegance, to 
that of gorgeous magnificence. We can hardly believe 
our senses, as we call to mind the great improvements 
that have been made in many of the races of ornamental 
plants, with which we have for years been familiar. 
Let us look at the Verbena, hardly known twenty years 
ago, now sporting into every conceivable color and shade, 
excepting yellow, always in bloom, and never tiring. Or the 
Portulaca, with its shining scarlet, purple, yellow, orange, 
white, and variegated blossoms, ever bright and beautiful, 
making itself perhaps too common, but certainly very gay 
and lively, and forming an indispensable appendage to the 
flower-garden. But these single varieties are now eclipsed 
by the recently introduced double sorts, as large and as 
double as a Rose, with all the brilliant colors of the single. 
That awkward flower, the single Zinnia, has been trans- 
formed into a full double flower, as large and as perfect in 
shape, as the Dahlia, with greater brilliancy of color. 
Who would recognize the Aster, the old-fashioned China, 
Aster, since, by the florists hands, it has been transformed 
into the variety called ‘“ Pzeony-flowered,” a class unsur- 
passed in brilliancy of color, perfection of shape, and in 
size equal to the Dahlia; or, into the other beautiful va- 
rieties of Pompon shape, Imbricated, Bouquet, and many 
other styles of beauty, unknown only within a few years? 
Then the Dahlia, the Gilly-flower, Petunia, Balsam, 
Chrysanthemum, Phlox, Hollyhock, and other old denizens 
of the flower-garden,—how have they been transformed, 
their beauties made more beautiful, and their varieties 
multiplied! 
