APRIL. 



49 



PETUNIA ELIZA MATHIBU. 



WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 



The Petunia inimitabilis flare pletio, which first appeared at the exhibitions 

 and floral meetings of 1861, was unquestionably the sensation flower of the 

 season. And well it deserved the admiration which met it on every side, for 

 it had all the requisites to secure popularity. Indeed, we question if a more 

 thoroughly useful plant of its class, whether for exhibition or for home 

 decorative purposes, has ever been obtained. This beautiful novelty found its 

 way to our gardens from those of the continental cultivators, whence so many 

 of the really novel-featured subjects we have obtained of late years have 

 emanated. 



Appearing so recently, almost as suddenly as an apparition, and that, too, 

 in a form which seemed to have alighted at one bound on the pinnacle of 

 excellence, we seem hardly prepared to find that this Double-flowered 

 Inimitable Petunia has been already surpassed, in some of its qualities at least, 

 by still newer varieties ; yet such is the case. The most sterling of these 

 improved sorts is that which, through the courtesy of Mr. G. Smith, of the 

 Tollington Nursery, Hornsey Road, we are enabled to present to our readers 

 in the accompanying plate. It is named Eliza. Mathieu, and combines^niost 

 of the good qualities of P. inimitabilis flare pleno, especially its stocky vigorous 

 habit of growth, with flowers of larger size and much more perfect form. The 

 colour and markings of the flowers are similar in both varieties — that is to say, 

 both of them have a ground colour of purplish-rose, though of different shades, 

 and both are variously marked with large irregular blotches of pure white, 

 producing handsomely mottled flowers. It will, no doubt, be remembered 

 that the outline of the original variety is very wavy and irregular, the five 

 points representing the segments of the normal monopetalous corolla of these 

 plants, forming curving angular projections ; but in Eliza Mathieu the circum- 

 ference is much more evenly filled out, so that the outline represents a tolerably 

 complete circle. Some flowers which we measured had a diameter of fully 

 4 .inches, the centre being high and completely filled out with a crowd of 

 petaloid segments variously blotched or margined with white, the ground 

 colour, according to our memorandum, being a violet rose, with rather less of 

 the lilac or mauve tint than our figure indicates. It is, doubtless, the finest of 

 this group we as yet possess. 



Another very beautiful variety of the same group is that named Marie 

 Rendatler ; but this is paler coloured, having more white, and the purple 

 markings being of a lighter violet rose. This appeared to be the best of the 

 double-blotched sorts for the open border, as grown last summer at Chiswick. 

 All three of the varieties which have been mentioned are desirable for general 

 cultivation as ornamental plants, and are distinct enough to admit of being 

 grown in company. 



It is as greenhouse and conservatory pot plants that these charming 

 Petunias wall be most valued ; and for such decorative purposes they are un- 

 rivalled, not less on account of their excellent habit, which is dwarf, bushy, 

 and well furnished with leaves and flowers, than for the very attractive 

 character of these latter when well grown. To have good flowering plants 

 for spring, they should be propagated about August, and grown on without 

 check in a light, well-aired house or frame. Another set of plants for suc- 

 cessional bloom should be propagated in spring, and these nicely grown will 

 form admirable specimens for flowering during the later summer months. 



vol. i. E 



