PENTSTEMON HETEEOPHTLLUS. 
PENTSTEMON HETEROPIiYLLUS. 
Nat. OrdeVt Scrophtjlaeiaceje \ Antirehinideve. 
Generic Character.— Pentstemon, UHeritief. — Cahjx five- 
parted, with distant solitary bracts. Corolla ventricose, bilabi- 
ate, the orifice gencrallj' pubescent. Stamens didjTiamous, with 
the rudiment of a fifth, which is usually filiform and bearded on 
the upper side ; anthers separate, glabrous, ciliated or downy. 
Capsule ovate, two-celled, two-valved, many-seeded. Seeds an- 
gular. 
Pentstemon heterophylltjs, Limlletf. Variable-leaved Pent- 
stemon. — SufFruticose ; leaves glaucescent, entire, linear-lance- 
olate, upper ones linear ; peduncles 1-2 flowered ; sepals ovate 
acuminate ; corolla ventricose, beardless ; anthers sagittate, 
fringed at top. 
Stnonv^ut.— Pentstemon heterophyllus, Linctley, in Bot. Jte(/., 
t. 1S99. 
BE8CRIPTI0N. — A handsome sub-shrubby species, growing from a foot and a half to two 
feet high ; branches minutely tubercular, mth crystalline papillae. Leaves opposite, quite 
entire, glaucescent from the presence of numerous small, whitish tubercles, linear-lanceolate on 
the lower part of the stems, where they are from two to three inches long, more linear and shorter 
above. Flowers in a racemose panicle ; peduncles 1-2 flowered, from the axils of the small 
upper opposite linear bract-Hke leaves ; and having a pair of small bracts above the middle. 
Calyx small, the sepals ovate-acuminate. Corolla large and sho^^'y, of a pretty pinkish lilac 
colour, beardless ; the tube for about one-third of its length at the base is narrow, suddenly 
ventricose ; anthers fringed at the top, sagittate, sterile filament glabrous, sub-emarginate. 
History. — This pretty Pentstemon was originally foimd by Douglas, in California, and 
was introduced by him in 1834. Subsequently it became lost to our gardens, and was 
reintroduced a year or two since, in company with P. azui'cus and P. cordifolius, by Mr. 
Hartweg, who found it in the valley of the Sacramento river, in Upper California. It is one 
of the evergreen, sub-shrubby section, requfring to be jjerpetviated by cuttings ; and, like 
most of the evergreen species of the genus, though comparatively hardy, cannot be safely 
trusted to withstand our winters. A siqiply of young plants should, therefore, be struck 
during summer, and preserved in cold dry frames dming winter, for planting out in the 
following season. Our drawing was made from a plant which blossomed in the nursery 
of Messrs. Henderson, WelKugton Road, St. John's Wood, during the summer of last year. 
CtTLTUEE. — The Pentstemons are among the most showy of the genera of hardy 
herbaceous plants. Some kinds are truly herbaceous, d)'ing do^^^l to the gromid annually ; 
others are more or less shrubbj' in their habit, and this is the case with the subject of the 
present notice. They will flourish in any good garden soil, but prefer a rather rich light 
loam, which is also, when mixed with decomposed leaves, a good compost in which to plant 
them for preservation in pots diu'ing winter. They are better adapted for mixed borders of 
choice flowers, than for beds or groups. 
Early in the summer, cuttings of the yoimg shoots should be planted in sandy soil, and 
placed under hand-glasses in a shady situation. These, when rooted, should be potted sejja- 
rately into small pots, and well established and hardened before winter. To this end, as soon 
as they begin to grow, after being separately potted, they should be set out on a gravel walk, 
or some other dry oisen spot, where they will get starved into hardiness of constitution by the 
absence of all excess of moistm-e at the roots, and rendered bushy in gro'U'th by frequent 
topping of the branches. In this condition they are well suited for preservation dm-ing winter 
in cold frames, free from accumulating dampness ; the pots should be plunged, so as to protect 
the roots as much as possible ; and while they are fally exposed all the clay in fine weather, the 
ordinary protection aflbrded by the fi-ame and light will be abundantly sufiicient for them at night, 
except in case of very severe fi'ost, when a garden-mat must be added. These plants may be planted 
out in April, or early in May, and should come into flower by the end of June, or the beginning 
of July. Seedlings of this Pentstemon are liable to produce variations from the type. — M. 
The name of this genus is derived fi'om pente, five, and stemon, stamen ; the fifth stamen 
being present and conspicuous, although sterile. This condition renders the genus interesting 
in an organograjshical respect, since it thus forms one of the links, or degrees of diminution 
of the stamiual whorl, from the normal number 5, corresijonding to the sepals and petals, to 
the two which occur in Veronica. — A. H. 
E^rT^i^- 
