56 i Mr. Sabine's Observations 



on the plants of China and Japan, from which countries all the 

 plants are derived. Kaempfer, Thunberg, and Loureiro have 

 noticed them, and their observations will materially assist in the 

 investigation of the subject. 



Kaempfer's Account of the Plants of Japan was published in 

 1712 (neither Linnaeus nor Willdenow refer to his work in either 

 of their editions of the Species Flantarum) ; he describes* the 

 plants we call the Chinese Chrysanthemums, under the name of 

 Matricaria, as growing both wild and in gardens in Japan, being 

 called by the natives Kik, Kikf, or Kikku ; he mentions that 

 there are many varieties, some of which are in blossom at all 

 times of the year, and that they are a principal ornament of the 

 gardens in the towns. He distinctly describes eight with double 

 flowers ; the first has flowers variegated with red and yellow, 

 about one inch in diameter, having a small yellow disc ; the 

 second has flowers variegated with red and yellow, three inches 

 in diameter, and without any apparent disc ; the third has a very 

 double golden-coloured blossom without a disc, as large as a dou- 

 ble hundred-leaved Rose, and having broad fragrant leaves ; the 

 fourth has white flowers, of various sizes, without any disc ; the 

 fifth has its flowers slightly flesh-coloured, two inches in diame- 

 ter, and without a disc ; the sixth has reddish-purple flowers, 

 with a moderately-sized disc ; the seventh is a plant with nume- 

 rous branches, flowering abundantly, its flowers being scarlet 

 suffused with dingy red, having a yellow disc of an inch in dia- 

 meter ; in the eighth the flower is an inch and a half in diameter, 

 the radial florets being white, with purple at their ends, yellow 

 tubular florets being mixed with them. In addition to these, he 

 mentions other plants with flowers of very different characters 

 from the preceding, which he appears to have considered as in 



* Karmpfer Anw.mtalea \ Erotic/F, pp. H7 5— 877- 



some 



