The Collinsia. 101 



found on the borders of Lake Erie, in Ohio, in 1810. He lost 

 the specimens then gathered, and in the spring of 1816, he 

 made a long journey in search of it at the place where he had 

 first observed it. Not being able to find it here, and after look- 

 ing for it in vain for a distance of a hundred miles, he at length 

 found a withered specimen on the banks of the Ohio river, 

 from which he saved the seed. Another Collinsia, at first sup- 

 posed to be a different species, but now considered the same, 

 was discovered, in 1826, near the Columbia river, and since 

 that year, three others, which are well defined species, have 

 been sent from California, and introduced into England, where 

 they are much cultivated and highly valued. They are very 

 hardy plants, can endure a low temperature much better than 

 heat, and will live in almost any soil or situation, though from 

 differences in these, some of the species will become so varia- 

 ble in appearance, as to be hardly recognisable. The seeds, 

 to grow in perfection, should be sown in the autumn, and the 

 plants removed in the spring to a bed of rich and strong soil, 

 where the roots can be shaded and kept moist, when they will 

 grow two feet high, with an erect stem, and produce a profu- 

 sion of splendid, large, clear, and brilliant flowers. If the 

 seeds are sown, as is generally the case, in the spring, the 

 flowers will be small, and the stems weak. Care must also 

 be taken not to expose the roots to the sun, since if this takes 

 place, the plants will wither and die. The species here en- 

 graved is perhaps the most showy and elegant. Its leaves, of 

 which the lower ones are divided into three lobes, are of a fine 

 dark green, and the flowers are large, and beautifully colored 

 with deep violet, shaded into light purple, and the veins of the 

 petals are a delicate red. 



