316 BRECK’S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 
PERILLA. 
Perilla Nankinénsis.—Purple-leaved Perilla.—An an- 
nual, growing from two to two and one-half feet high; stems 
branching, well covered with an ample foliage of a dark- 
purple, almost black. Leaves petioled, opposite, oval, with 
pointed ends, the sides dented, smooth and glossy on both 
surfaces, sometimes slightly crisped and exhaling, when 
rubbed, an odor like cinnamon. The flowers are at the axils 
of the larger leaves, bilabiate, rose or pale-purple, small, 
but very numerous and producing but little effect. The 
principal merit of this plant consists in the strange color 
of the foliage, which contrasts in a remarkable manner 
with that of most cultivated plants; its fine habit, its ro- 
bust terperament, and its being an annual, make it tery 
appropriate for masses in the borders of a flower-garden. 
Seeds scattered on the ground in autumn will vegetate in 
the spring, and produce an abundance of plants; or the 
seed may be sown in a mild hot-bed or cold frame in 
April, and transplanted to the garden in June. 
PETUNIA. 
[Said to be from petun, the Brazilian name for Tobacco, a plant to which the 
Petunia is closely related.) 
Pettiinia violacea.—Purple Petunia.—Introduced into 
England from South America in 1831. This now very 
common plant was at that time considered a valuable ac- 
quisition to the flower-garden. We now wonder how a 
flower-garden could be formed without the Petunia, the 
Portulaca, the Verbena, Drummond’s Phlox, and a host 
of other ornamental plants now considered indispensible, 
which have been introduced since that time. The fine 
rosy-purple flowers of this species make a grand display 
through all the summer months, and in September and Oc- 
