576 Mr. Saeixk!s Observations 



plerumque solitariis. Rosa? amplitudine, petalorum ses- 

 quiunciam longiorum, culmum latorum, in extremo fronta- 

 torum, suave-rubentium multiplici foetu luxuriant! bus, qui 

 tamen in medio, luteum discum parvum, haud sine jucun- 

 dissimo aspectu, et singularem huic planta? gratiam con- 

 ciliantem, commonstrant. Semina solida, vulgaris majora. 

 Variat, floribus suave-rubentibus, candidissimis, purpureis, 

 luteo-obsoletis, carneis atque phomiceis." 



This is without doubt a description, by an author of great re- 

 putation, of six varieties of our Chinese Chrysanthemums exist- 

 ing in the Dutch gardens upwards of one hundred and thirty 

 years ago, and yet not referred by Linnaeus to his Chrysanthe- 

 mum Indicum. In the above account it is stated that they bore 

 seeds, which circumstance has not been even observed since their 

 more recent introduction into Europe. It is singular that those 

 plants of Breynius have not been referred to by any old author, 

 except Ray and Plukenet ; and amongst the modern writers, the 

 only one who paid the least attention to them is Curtis, who, in 

 the Botanical Magazine, no. 327, in describing the Purple Chry- 

 santhemum, quotes the Matricaria Japonica maxima of Breynius, 

 but he even does it with a mark of doubt. 



When I first entered into the preceding inquiry, I little ex- 

 pected that it would have occupied so large a space ; but the in- 

 tricacy in which I found it involved has obliged me, in order to 

 elucidate it completely, to extend my investigation of the sub- 

 ject to some length : I trust, however, that my purpose will have 

 been answered. I think it clear that .the two varieties of Lin- 

 naeus's Chrysanthemum Indicum, and all the plants of the authors 

 cited by him, whether the same as his plants or not, have very 

 small flowers, and therefore to be distinguished from those plants 

 with large flowers, now called Chinese Chrysanthemums, and 



which 



