Nolana

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Alona calestis - Paxton.jpg


Plant Characteristics
Cultivation
Scientific Names

Nolana >

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Nolana (Chilean Bell Flower) is a genus of hard annual or perennial plants in the Nightshade family, which is native of costal areas in Chile and Peru.


Read about Nolana in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Nolana (from nola, a little bell; referring to the shape of the corolla). Nolanaceae. Prostrate annual herbs with showy blue flowers opening only in sunshine, valued chiefly for covering poor or rocky places.

Stem often slightly angulate, usually spotted and streaked with purple above, glabrous or viscid-pubescent, much branched, the ends of the branches ascending several inches: Lvs. solitary or in pairs, entire, usually fleshy, the lower long-petioled; the upper short- petioled, sessile or attenuated into a winged petiole: fls. borne singly in the axils of the Lvs., mostly short- peduncled, commonly blue or purple, rarely white or rose; calyx 5-parted; corolla short funnel-shaped or bell-shaped, as in Convolvulus, entire, 5-angled or 5-10-, lobed; ovaries 5 to many. 1-5-seeded, arranged in 1-2 series or clustered irregularly around the base of the style.—About 20 species, all native in Chile and Peru, mostly seacoast plants.

The characters by which several species of Nolana have been separated are not well defined. It is probable that N. prostrata and N. paradoxa should be considered as one species. The chief characters which have been used to distinguish them are the number of ovaries in each flower and the number of seeds in each ovary; but these characters vary in different plants of these and other species of Nolana.

Nolanas grow readily from seeds sown in the open in May. For early blooming and for seed-production they should be started under glass in March and transplanted in May. N. paradoxa is used with fine effect when planted in large patches in the border or on rocky hillsides. All of the species do well in pots. They prefer a light soil and sunny situation. N. paradoxa is well suited for use in vases and baskets.


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Cultivation

Propagation

Pests and diseases

Varieties

There are a number of synonyms for Nolana: Alibrexia, Aplocarya, Bargemontia, Dolia, Gubleria, Leloutrea, Neudorfia, Osteocarpus, Pachysolen, Periloba, Rayera, Sorema, Teganium, Tula, Velpeaulia, Walberia, and Zwingera.

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