FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



361 



flowers tubular, much swollen at the base, deep red, 

 tipped with yellowish-green. The early spring 

 months. New Grenada. 



Vaccinium. — This genus is the type of the 

 order to which so many beautiful plants have been 

 referred in previous pages, and to it belong our 

 native species, which are popularly known as Cran- 

 berry, Bilberry, Blueberry, and Cowberry, the 

 fruits of which are great favourites with grouse and 

 such-like birds. 



The exotic kinds require the same treatment as 

 recommended for Ceratostema. 



V. Imrayi — This can scarcely be called a showy 

 species ; it is, however, very peculiar and interesting. 

 A bold-growing plant wdth ovate-acuminate leaves, 

 leathery in texture and shining deep green ; racemes 

 crowded into dense heads at the points of the shoots ; 

 flowers large, campanulate, yellowdsh-green. It re- 

 quires to be kept rather warmer than its allies. 

 Summer months. Island of Dominica, at consider- 

 able elevations. 



V. rejlexmn. — A charming plant, with long, slender, 

 pendent branches ; leaves closely set, small, some- 

 what oblong, leathery in texture, deep shining green 

 above, vinous-red beneath ; flowers in dense clusters 

 at the ends of the shoots, coral-red. Winter months. 

 Bolivia. 



V. Eollissonii. — In this we have another tropical 

 species, but it does not require great heat ; it is an 

 erect-habited plant, having angular branches and 

 obovate leaves, leathery in texture, and deep shining 

 green ; racemes terminal ; flowers bright scarlet. 

 May and June. Mountains of Java. 



FLOEISTS' FLOWERS. 



By Richard Dean. 



The Petunia. — The term Petunia is derived 

 from petun, the Brazilian name for Tobacco, to 

 which the Petunia is allied. The flne varieties now 

 in cultivation have in all probability sprung from 

 the white-flowered F. mjctagimflora, the Marvel of 

 Peru flowered Petunia, introduced from South 

 America in 1823, and F. violacec(,the Violet-coloured 

 Petunia, introduced from Buenos Ayres in 1831 ; so, 

 as compared with many other plants, the Petunia is 

 of comparatively recent introduction. These w^ere 

 cultivated, and being found by our English florists 

 to seed freely, seedlings were raised ; and the pro- 

 geny showing a tendency to vary, crosses were made 

 with the best varieties, the result being the pro- 

 duction of new and improved forms. These w^ere 

 taken in hand and grown for exhibition purposes, a 



dwarfer and more compact habit of growth being 

 associated with larger, stouter, and better-formed 

 flowers ; eventually the most promising were named, 

 and in this way the Petunia came to be regarded as 

 a highly desirable and popular plant. In the first 

 efi^orts in crossing the Petunia, the early productions 

 were much alike in chai'acter. It is a fact that in 

 the first generation all hybiids are much alike, but 

 in the second they vary in the most remarkable 

 degree. Thus, in the case of the Petunia, some of 

 the first seedhngs reverted to the white species, 

 others to the violet type ; some showed tints of 

 colour between the two. Then, by fertilising these, 

 a third generation was obtained much more parti- 

 coloured, and eventually these gave extreme!}' 

 varied forms. In all crosses of this character the 

 fancy of the operator will actuate him to select 

 what forms he pleases as his models, whether sym- 

 metrical in form and harmonious in colour on the 

 one hand, or grotesque in outline and ill- defined and 

 confused in colour on the other ; but the variations 

 of any flower that are to 'find a place in the garden 

 should at least partake of the characteristics gener- 

 ally considered essential by florists — form, colour, 

 substance, distinctness, &c. — and not be hideous and 

 unlovely formations merely, that have neither 

 attractiveness nor utility to recommend them. To 

 these essential points must be superadded a short, 

 stiff, and yet vigorous habit ; a propensity to 

 flower freely ; and, as far as it can be obtained, a 

 hardihood that can sustain to some extent, when 

 bedded out of doors, the effects of cold and inclement 

 weather, which is sometimes characteristic of an 

 English summer. 



For a time the flowers of the Petunia were single. 

 Then, as one of the results of selection, added petals 

 began to show themselves in the centres of some of 

 the flow^ers. These were carefully fertilised with 

 the pollen from blossoms of a like character, and 

 eventually a race with fully double flowers was 

 obtained. They, like the single forms, vary con- 

 sidei^ably in character. Some are compact and smaU 

 in size, others loose and very large. Of late years 

 there has been obtained from the Continent a strain 

 of both single and double Petunias of strong spread- 

 ing growth, and very large, loose, but singularly rich 

 and fantastically marked flowers. The favourite 

 English sectio.n is represented by a strain of compact 

 growth, and small-sized, well-formed, finely-striped, 

 and self-coloured blossoms, both double and single. 



In regard to the cultivation of the Petunia, it 

 may be observed that such fine varieties can now be 

 obtained from seeds, that naming of distinct kinds 

 is seldom resorted to. Raisers of fine varieties, 

 desirous of preserving a new and distinct variety 

 which pleases them, do so by means of cuttings, but 



