THE PETUNIA. 
4S1 
a. Petunia nyctaginiflora. 
b. P. violacea, or, integrifoUa. 
THE PETUNIA— ITS CULTIVATION AND PROPERTIES. 
BY GEORGE GLENNY, F.H.S, 
[The two figures in the wood engraving 
given above, represent the original species 
from which the race of garden or florist's 
petunias have sprung ; the larger, P. nyctagi- 
niflora (a) bearing white flowers ; the smaller, 
P. integrifoUa (h) flowers of a brilliant rosy- 
purple. This latter, under good cultivation, 
is, notwithstanding its small size, as compared 
with other petunias, one of the most brilliaot 
and enduring of summer-flowering plants.] 
The Petunia is one of the few perennials 
that form a principal ornament in a flower- 
garden, and which, if planted out in variety, 
make a great display during the greater part 
of the summer. The form and colour of the 
flower have been the leading attractions for 
some years ; but the style and habit of the 
plant is of some importance. It is a favourite 
among those plants which continue growing 
and blooming all the time it occupies the gar- 
den, from May till the frost cuts it off; "and 
therefore, like the verbena, it keeps the beds 
and borders alive and brilliant when other 
flowers are scarce. It is easy to propagate it 
by cuttings, and for that reas'on a really good 
one will bear a good price when it is first let 
out, and only becomes cheaper in consequence 
50. 
of its being multiplied. Originally, the cha- 
racter of the bloom was partly starry, because 
however wide the divisions of the flower 
were, it had as many points as divisions, and 
the indentations between the divisions were 
very conspicuous, a fault which began to im- 
prove from the period when the properties 
of a perfect specimen were published. The 
principal objection to the flower was its 
flimsy texture, which caused it to flag when 
the sun was rather powerful. The most 
desirable improvement, therefore, was a thick- 
ening of the corolla, without which the flower 
would have continued too fragile to be gene- 
rally useful. It is needless to say, that when 
this property was acquired, a variety became 
a favourite even in the absence of other pro- 
perties ; yet it could not be made a positive 
requisite to sustain a new kind, for while a 
flower is improving, any one property ac- 
quired is enough to cover many defects, not 
so much for itself as for the chances of im- 
proving future seedlings to be raised from it : 
hence the thick corolla, though of bad form, 
might give rise to thick corollas combined 
with a better form ; while on the other hand, 
a splendid form, with a very flimsy corolla, 
may yield seedlings which partake of the 
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