pentste'mon. 



206 



PENTSTE v MON. 



the seed, the botanical name of which 

 is the hilum. Several of the Pavias 

 are shrubs, and one of them, P. rubra, 

 is almost prostrate. They are all very 

 handsome, particularly the dark red 

 and yellow-flowered kinds, and P. 

 macrostachys, which has long fea- 

 thery white flowers. They will grow 

 best in loamy soil ; and they are all 

 propagated either by seeds or layers, 

 or by grafting or budding them on 

 the common horse-chestnut. 



Peat Bog consists entirely of ve- 

 getable matter decayed by being satu- 

 rated with moisture, but which re- 

 quires to be decomposed or mixed 

 with some earthy matter to render it 

 fit for vegetation. As it is the tan- 

 nin which abounds in the liquid part 

 of peat bog, which prevents the de- 

 composition of the vegetable fibre it 

 contains, it is only necessary to drain 

 it of its superabundant moisture to 

 convert it into peat earth ; in which 

 state it is used in gardening for the 

 growth of large American plants, such 

 as Rhododendrons, &c, in the open 

 ground. Heath-mould is peat mixed 

 naturally or artificially with a large 

 proportion of fine white sand ; and, in 

 this state, it is used in greenhouses for 

 growing Heaths, and other Cape and 

 Australian shrubs with fine hair-like 

 roots, in pots. When greenhouse 

 shrubs are directed to be grown in 

 peat, it is always understood to mean 

 a mixture of peat and silver sand, and 

 not black peat alone. 



Pelargonium. — See Gera x nium. 



Pellitory, Common.— Pyrethrum 

 Parthenium. — See Pyrethrum. 



Pellitory of Spain. Anthernis 

 Pyrethrum See Anthemis. 



Pelo'ria. — A curious variety of the 

 common Toad-flax. — See Lina'ria. 



Pentste\mon. — Scrophularinece. 

 — The two genera Chelone and Pent- 

 stemon are so often confused together, 

 that it may be useful here to copy the 

 very clear distinctions which Dr. 



Lindley has laid down between them 

 for the sake of such of my readers as 

 may be botanists. " Chelone has a 

 ringent corolla, seated among round 

 imbricated bractea? ; its anthers are 

 fastened together by a dense mass of 

 wool, and its seeds have a membra- 

 nous margin. Pentstemon, on the 

 contrary, has a bilabiate corolla, with 

 only a single bractea, which is at a 

 considerable distance from it ; its an- 

 thers are distinct from each other, and 

 either perfectly smooth or at most 

 only slightly pubescent ; and its seeds 

 are destitute of a membranous mar- 

 gin. The habit of the two genera is 

 also strikingly different." To those 

 who are not botanists it may be suf- 

 ficient to remark, that the flowers of 

 the Chelone are short and inflated, 

 and crowded together; while those of 

 the Pentstemon are long and funnel- 

 shaped, and far apart. The Pentste- 

 mons are generally hardy or half- 

 hardy plants, suffering less from cold 

 than from damp during winter ; and 

 as they all are very apt to damp off 

 at that season, it is a good plan 

 to take cuttings of all the kinds 

 grown in the open ground in au- 

 tumn, and to strike them in sandy 

 peat, keeping them in a greenhouse 

 or some dry place till spring, 

 when they may be planted in the 

 flower border. All the Pentste- 

 mons are beautiful North American 

 perennials, growing from one foot to 

 two feet in height, with white, pink, 

 blue, or purple flowers, produced from 

 March to October. Most of them will 

 grow in common garden soil, and the 

 rest in loam and peat ; and tbey are 

 all readily propagated by division of 

 the roots, or by seeds or cuttings. P. 

 campanulatus grows a foot and a 

 half high, and produces its light purple 

 flowers from March to October, and 

 P. rbseus produces its red flowers 

 during the same period ; P. pulchel- 

 lus grows a foot and a half high, and 



