MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 125 
For a considerable time after their introduction the French 
and English gardeners had been experimenting with the ob- 
ject of raising chrysanthemums from seed. Success was 
finally attained by a French officer, M. Bernet. The previous 
ear he had discovered some withered flower heads in which 
e was surprised to find seeds bearing all the signs of perfect 
maturity. Keeping his discovery a secret he carefully tended 
the seeds himself, and in the fall of 1827 was rewarded with 
several fine varieties of plants. 
In 1848 Mr. Robert Fortune was sent to China by the 
Royal Horticultural Society of London in search of rare 
plants. On his return in 1846 he brought, among other 
curiosities, two small-flowered chrysanthemums known as 
the Chusan Daisy and the Chinese Minimum. These, ac- 
cording to James Salter, were probably varieties from the 
true Chrysanthemum wdicum of Linnaeus. The plants, 
however, did not find favor with the English growers owing 
to their small flowers, but they were appreciated by the 
French and were used for hybridizing. According to sev- 
eral authorities, the pompons of the present-day chrysanthe- 
mum originated from these two varieties. The introduction 
of the Japanese specimens into Europe dates from 1862, 
when they were brought back by Mr. Fortune from his 
second trip to China. Salter, in describing these new plants, 
says: ‘Some varieties were spotted and striped; others were 
fantastic forms called Dragons; and one noteworthy speci- 
men was a beautiful fringed white flower, in appearance 
more like a Japanese pink than a chrysanthemum.” 
The development of the chrysanthemum before its intro- 
duction into europe is a mystery. Hemsley states in the 
“Gardener’s Chronicle,” of 1889, that “it is impossible to de- 
termine the parentage of some of the Chinese double chrysan- 
themums, and it is highly probable that some of them are . 
of hybrid origin between Chrysanthemum indicum, the 
small yellow, and Dh ck arte 3 morifolium (sinense). 
The same may be said with regard to some of the — 
figures of double varieties of chrysanthemums, whic 
authors have identified with one or the other of the two 
adopted species. The slender Chusan Daisy, the parent of 
all the pompons, for example, is probably of mixed origin, 
though it may be pure C. indicum.” 
The true Chrysanthemum indicum in its wild state is 
found from Hongkong to Pekin, the ray- and disk-flowers 
both being yellow. Chrysanthemum morifoliwm (C. sin- 
ense) is found in the Luchu Archipelago and the Chinese 
central province of Hupeh. It is more robust than C. 
