124 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
little resemblance to our modern system; for instance, one 
favorite was called “The Drunken Lady,” owing to the 
drooping habit of the flowers during the day. 
The earliest record of the introduction of the chrysan- 
themum into Europe dates from 1688, when it was brought 
into Holland by Breynius, a merchant of Dantzig, who, in 
the next year, published his “Prodromus Plantarum Rari- 
orum,” which contained accurate descriptions of the varieties 
then growing in Holland. In spite of its easy cultivation, 
however, interest in the chrysanthemum soon died out and 
the varieties described by Breynius passed out of existence 
in Holland. England is the next country to which we have 
any record of the chrysanthemum being imported, being 
brought this time in a dried state from China, in 1698- 
1703, by James Cunningham, Surgeon to the East India 
Company in Amoy, China. In 1764 living specimens were 
introduced into Risin: these were sent from Nimpu 
a Ningpo}, China, and were cultivated by Philip 
iller. The plants were also grown in the famous Chelsea 
Garden, in London, and it was from here that herbarium 
specimens were collected and preserved which are accessible 
at the present day. The specimens are labeled Chrysanthe- 
mum indicum and show flowers with small double heads, 
undoubtedly being one of the true “indicum” type. 
The next important step in chrysanthemum culture was 
in 1789 when a French merchant, M. Blancard, brought 
home three varieties from China: one white, one violet, and 
one purplish. Within three years there was scarcely a 
garden in Versailles that had not adopted the chrysanthe- 
mum, the flowers then being about the size of the present- 
day carnation. M. Blancard’s purple variety was introduced 
into England in 1790. Concerning this introduction, Sabine 
writes: “This is the purple variety; it had been transmitted 
to this country from France in 1790, and after its arrival 
here the changeable white was obtained from it by cultiva- 
tion. Between the years 1798 and 1808, inclusive, eight new 
varieties were imported from China into England in the fol- 
lowing order: the rose and buff together, in 1798; the 
golden yellow and the quilled. yellow together, in 1802; the 
sulphur = at the latter end of the same year; the 
Spanish brown, in 1806; and the quilled white and large 
lilac together, in 1808. Of these the sulphur yellow was im- 
ported for Thomas Evans, Esq., of Stepney, and the remain- 
ing seven sorts for Sir Abraham Hume. Later importations 
have produced two others, the tasseled white, in 1816, and 
the superb white, in 1817.” 
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