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BROWALLIA. 



BROWALLIA. 



This plant was named by Linnaeus in honor of 

 J. Browallins, Bishop of Abo.* The Browallia is 

 a free flowering, half-hardy annual from South 

 America. It grows about eighteen inches high. 

 The stem is strong and much branched and bears 

 delicate flowers, about an inch in diameter, ranging 

 from dark blue to white. The Browallia has been 

 generally cultivated as a flower-garden annual, but 

 those who have tried it as a window plant warmly 

 recommend it. A lady in Portland, Maine, who 

 had a B. Elata, "a perfect mass of bloom beginning 

 in September and continuously covered until late 

 in January," has furnished us her method of 

 treatment. 



SOIL, GENERAL TREATMENT, AND VARIETIES. 



A rich garden soil is suitable. 

 It requires an abundant supply of water while in 

 bloom. 



* Bishop Browallins wrote in defense of Linnaeus, who was 

 severely attacked for his system which discarded the cumber- 

 some Latin names of plants hitherto used, and founded classes 

 upon the number of stamens and orders upon the pistils. It was 

 in gratitude therefore that Linnaeus named this plant after the 

 friend who supported him. They subsequently quarreled, and 

 Linnaeus is said to have named the different species to commemo- 

 rate the friendship and its rupture. B. Elata is said to denote the 

 extent of their attachment, B. Demissa, its decrease, and B. Ali- 

 enata their alienation. The account, though interesting, may be 

 fanciful. 



