. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Handbook of Nature-Study. PETUNIAS Teacher's Story HESE red-purple and white flowers, which, massed in borders and beds, make gay our gar- dens and grounds in late summer and early autumn, have an interesting history. Professor L. H. Bailey uses it as an illustration in his thought-inspiring book, "The Survival of the Unlike;" he says that our modern petunias are a strange compound of two original species; the first one was found on the shores of the La Plata in South Americ
. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Handbook of Nature-Study. PETUNIAS Teacher's Story HESE red-purple and white flowers, which, massed in borders and beds, make gay our gar- dens and grounds in late summer and early autumn, have an interesting history. Professor L. H. Bailey uses it as an illustration in his thought-inspiring book, "The Survival of the Unlike;" he says that our modern petunias are a strange compound of two original species; the first one was found on the shores of the La Plata in South America and was introduced into Europe in 1823. "It is a plant of upright habit, thick sticky leaves and sticky stems, and very long-tubed white flowers which exhale a strong perfume at ; The second species of petunia came from seeds sent from Argentina to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens in 1831. "This is a more compact plant than the other, with a decumbent base, narrower leaves and small, red- purple flowers which have a very broad or ventricose tube, scarcely twice longer than the slender calyx ; This plant was called Petunia â violacea and it was easily hybridized with the white species; it is now, strangely enough, lost to ctdtivation, although the white species is found in some old gardens. The hybrids of these two species are the ancestors of our garden petunias, which show the purple-red and white of their pro- genitors. The petunias are of the Nightshade family and are kin to the potato, tomato, egg-plant, tobacco and Jimson-weed, and, like the latter, the flowers are especially adapted to give nectar to the long- tongued sphinx or humming bird moths. The petunia corolla is tubular, and the five lobes open out in salver- shape; each lobe is slightly notched at its middle, from which point a marked midrib extends to the base of the tube. In varieties the edges of the lobes ruffled. Within the throat of the tube may be seen a netwo
Size: 1799px × 1389px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorcomstockannabotsford1, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
