VAN HOUTTE'S PHLOX. 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDMA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
POLEMONIACEyE. 
A GARDEN VARIETY. 
Phloxes may with propriety be registered with the most showy and valuable 
of hardy herbaceous plants, for the magnitude and density of their panicles of 
prettily-rounded and lively- coloured blossoms give a most attractive and gay 
appearance to the borders during the flowering season. Of late years many 
beautiful additions have been made to the varieties in cultivation by hybridizing ; 
and almost every shade of colour now exists, from pure white to a fine crimson 
purple. 
The variety before us has evidently originated in this way, by intermixing 
one with pale flowers, with a dark-coloured one ; and as it bears a close resemblance 
to P. suffruticosa in its smooth, lanceolate, shining leaves, and dappled stem, and 
also in the arrangement of the inflorescence, it is more than probable that that 
species has been one of the parents. The other has doubtless been some of the 
taller-growing kinds, as Van Houttii usually reaches a yard in height. Tlie 
chief peculiarity, as will be seen from the drawing, is the rich purple streak down 
the centre of each petal. 
The metropolitan nurseries and gardens contain several varieties of a like 
character, indicating the same origin, by the similarity in their leaves and foliage, 
which can scarcely be said to difi^er. One of these, called Princess Marien, has also 
a purple stripe down the middle of the petals, but the colour is inferior to Van 
Houttii, and the rim of white at the margin is much narrower. Another variety, 
known by the name of Alcardii has bright crimson-purple flowers with irregular 
streaks of white, and is a more beautiful and showy flower than the last. P. hicolor^ 
a seedling raised by Mr. Mountjoy of Ealing, is also an interesting variation, the 
eye of the flower being bright rosy purple, and the remainder white, or a very 
pale blush. 
