SEPTEMBER. 419 



Chief among the flowers yet conspicuous in the 

 garden, is the regal Dahlia, with its drooping globes 

 of crimson, scarlet, maroue, yellow, and white, whose 

 innumerable varieties are the glory of floriculture, 

 and the just pride of the nurseryman. They will now 

 spread their gorgeous array till the first frosts wither 

 them at one fell stroke, and render it necessary to take 

 up their roots for preservation through the winter. 

 The name commemorates DAHL, a Swedish botanist, 

 thus honoured by CAYANILLES, a Spanish botanist, in 

 1791. Three species only are known, all natives of 

 Mexico, but the only one from which the garden 

 plants are derived is D, varidbilis* This flower fur* 

 nishes a curious instance of the effects of cultivation 

 upon the wild products of nature, for in its native 

 country it is described as a bushy herbaceous plant, 

 with single purple or lilac flowers, having little pre- 

 tensions to beauty. It has now been cultivated in 

 Europe for about fifty years. During this period 

 many millions of plants have been raised from seeds, 

 and under almost every possible variation of climate ; 

 and anomalies the most singular, not only in colour, 

 but in general constitution and physiological struc- 

 ture, have been obtained. The colour of the flower 

 has been altered from pale yellow or lilac, to every hue 

 of red, purple, or yellow, to pure scarlet and to deep- 

 est marone, or has even been wholly discharged from 

 the radial florets in the white varieties. The period of 

 flowering has been accelerated nearly two months ; 

 and the tall rank Mexican weed has been in some in- 

 stances reduced to a trim bush, emulating the Peony 



* Among the native Mexicans the Dahlia was considered as the flower 

 of the dead that " ghosts come to snuff at." 



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