The China Asters. 217 



France ; and he received the single blue in 1786. In 17r)2 he 

 obtained seeds of the double red and blue, and in 1753 of the double 

 white. At that time there appear to have been no dwarf forms, 

 for Miller says that the plants grew eighteen inches to two feet 

 high. Martyn, in 1807, says that in addition to these varieties 

 mentioned by Miller there had then appeared a " variegated blue 

 and white" variety. The species was well known to American 

 gardeners at the opening of the century. In 1806, M' Mahon, of 

 Philadelphia, mentioned the "China aster (in sorts)" as one of the 

 desirable garden annuals. Bridgeman, a 'New York seedsman, 

 offered the China and German asters in 1837 "in numerous and 

 splendid varieties," specifying varieties ^^alba, rubra, cerulea, striata, 

 p i(rj)urea, etc.^'' In 1845, Eley said that "China and German 

 :asters," "are very numerous" in New England. 



This name German aster records the fact that the first great 

 advances in the evolution of the plant were made in Germany, and 

 the seeds which we now use comes largely from that country. The 

 marked departure from the type, appears to have been the prolonga- 

 tion or great development of the central florets of the head, and the 

 production of the " quilled " flower. This type of aster was very 

 popular forty and fifty years ago. Breck, in the first edition of his 

 ■*' Flower Garden," in 1851, speaks of the great improvement of the 

 aster " within a few years," " by the German florists, and others," 

 and adds that "the full-quilled varieties are the most highly esteemed, 

 having a hemispherical shape, either a pure white, clear blue, purple, 

 Tose or deep red ; or beautifully mottled, striped, or edged with 

 those colors, or having a red or blue centre." About fifty years 

 :ago the habit of the plant had begun to vary considerably, and the 

 progenitors of our modern dwarf races began to attract attention. 



The quilled, high centered flower of a generation or more ago is 

 :too stiff to satisfy the tastes of these later days, and the many flat- 

 rrayed, loose and fluffy races are now most in demand, and their 

 ■popularity is usually greater the nearer they approach the form of 

 Ihe uncombed chrysanthemums. 



The China aster had long since varied into a wide range of colors 

 of the cyanic series — shades of blue, red, pink and purple, I do 

 not know what its original color might have been. The modern 

 •evolution of the plant is in the direction of habit, and form of flower. 

 Some type varies — generally rather suddenly and without apparent 



