S4> TlIK .TOFRXAL OF HOTAXT 



Madrid (javden, whose acquaintance she doubtless made Avhen 

 (as Mr. Payne informs us) she was at Madrid with her husband 

 in 1795-7; the fact that one of the specimens is endorsed as '■' sriit 

 luider the name of Dalilia coeruleo-ruhens " seems to show that 

 this was not given to her personally when she was in Madrid. Other 

 jdants from Ortega in the National Herbarivnn were received by 

 Banks in 1777. It may be noted that the Solander MSS., which 

 so often are helpful in investigations of this kind, contain nothing 

 relating to the genus. 



The introduction of the Dahlia to our gai'dens was practically due 

 to Lady Holland, in whose garden at Kensington it was first success- 

 fully cultivated. Specimens of the plants earliest raised there were 

 sent from the garden to Banks, and are now in the National Herbarium. 

 Mr. Payne refers to these, but as they were not connected with the 

 inquiry upon which he was engaged, does not further consider them. 

 Sonie time ago I inade notes on these specimens, which may be worth 

 printing in connection with Mr. Payne's i-esearches. 



The history of the introduction of the Dahlia to the Holland 

 House garden is given by Buonaiuti in the " communication " ap- 

 pended to the Complete Dictionary of Gardening (1807) by " Alex- 

 ander McDonald." Buonaiuti is there described as "gardener "to 

 Lord Holland, bnt Sabine (in Trans. Hort. Soc. iii. 218) corrects this 

 to "librarian." I have been able to discover very little about him 

 beyond that his Christian name began with S, and that he was still living 

 in 1820. These facts I gather from Faulkner's Histori/ of Kensing- 

 ton, published in that year, which says (p. 440) : " Mr. Buonaiuti, 

 who resides on [Kensington] Terrace, has in his possession the last 

 engraving tools made use of by the celebrated engraver Bartolozzi, 

 previous to his leaving this country, and a proof of the last plate 

 which he finished, with an inscription in his own handwa-iting ex- 

 pressive of his friendship and esteem." As Mr. Payne points out, 

 Buonaiviti's communication is reproduced (without author's name) in 

 the New Flora Britannica (not " Botanica ") and Neio Botanic Gar- 

 den — the same work vmder another title — the text of which is prac- 

 tically identical wnth that of the Complete Dictionary. According 

 to G. W. Johnson (Hist. Engl. Gardening, 282) Alexander Macdonald 

 was " an assumed name by Dr. H. W. Dickson, of Hindon [Hendon] 

 in Middlesex, author of several agricultural works " : I know nothing 

 more about him : the agricultural works under his name in B.M. 

 Library Catalogue range in date from 1799 to 1815. It may be 

 noted that we have in the Department of Botany a large number of 

 the drawings of Sydenham Edwards from which the plates fi'om 

 these works were prepared. 



The specimens from Holland House are six in number, four being 

 referred to D. variabilis and two to D. coccinea. There can I think 

 be no doubt that the names and notes on the sheets are in Buonaiuti's 

 hand, and that the foxu- represent the " four distinct species or vai'ie- 

 ties " mentioned in his communication to the Complete Dictionary as 

 flowei-ing in 1805. .This conclusion is borne out by the fact that the 

 MS. note on one of the sheets begins : " This plant came from seeds 

 in 1805" ; that three of the sheets are numbered respectively 1, 2, 3 ; 



