Plate 170 . 
PETUNIA, MRS. SMITH. 
The favour with which double Petunias were regarded in the 
horticultural world a couple of years ago, seems to have been 
of a very short-lived character, as we find that they are now 
but very little sought after ; and in a collection which we saw at 
the Paris Exhibition in the spring, which was brought forward 
by the well-known raiser M. Rendatler, there was so little of 
novelty, and no improvement upon kinds already well known, 
so that this neglect is sufficiently accounted for. The same may 
be said, we think, of the Phlox. All the ingenuity of the flo¬ 
riculturist does not seem to have been able to impart any no¬ 
velty to the tribe; and although M. Lierval still industriously 
pursues his task, we fancy that neither as a garden plant nor an 
exhibition flower it is likely to be much longer in favour. 
Under these circumstances, single Petunias are much more 
likely to be sought after, and we therefore have thought it 
J O J o 
desirable to figure this very beautiful variety, raised by Messrs. 
Smith, of Dulwich, and named by them Mrs. Smith. Its cha¬ 
racter, as will be seen, is quite novel, entirely distinct from such 
flowers as Madame Ferguson , and figured in our second volume. 
It is distinguished by having a white margin to the very beau¬ 
tiful magenta-coloured petals, and also in the centre of each 
segment a broad white space, giving the flower a very star-like 
appearance, and on the plant, making it very remarkable. 
From the specimens that we have seen of it, it also seems to be 
very constant, although it must be expected that in this, as in 
all flowers of a similar bizarre character, irregularities in the 
markings will occasionally show 7 themselves; any one wffio has 
grown flowers in any class where these singularities of markings 
occur can bear witness to this. 
