January yth, Tp02.] PROCEEDINGS. xxiii 



Shingking, Kiangsu, Chekiang, Kiangsi, Fokien, Hupeh, and 

 the island of Hong Kong. 



C. sinense Sabine {Trans. Linn. Soc.^yjm., p. 561, xiv., p. 145 

 sqq.) is very much the handsomer species in a wild state, and 

 doubtless is the ancestor and origin of all the long-petalled 

 cultivated forms, seen in such variety of form and colour, varying 

 from white to pale cinnamon, brown, maroon, red, purple, rose, 

 and bright yellow. 



Sir J. E. Smith (Rees' Cyclop., viii,, chrysanthemum) 

 remarks : that " C. indiciim, [with which he merges C. sinense] 

 is a native of China, where, and in other parts of the East, it has 

 been long cultivated, and highly esteemed for its beauty. A 

 great number of varieties have, in consequence, been produced, 

 single, semi-double, and double, sometimes the size of the palm 

 of the human hand. Though this magnificent plant has so long 

 been cultivated in the East, it does not appear to have found its 

 way to Europe till 1795, when it flowered for the first time in 

 Britain, in the collection of Mr. Colville, nurseryman, at Chelsea. 

 The Chinese employ it to decorate their houses and tables on 

 festive occasions, and are said to prefer those pieces of porcelain 

 on which it is painted." 



In Curtis' s Bota7iical Magazine, Vol. ix. (1796), p. 327, with 

 a plate taken from the first specimen that, as just mentioned, 

 flowered in Mr Colville's nursery, is given a full account of the 

 history of the plant, here also called C. indicum, with Matricaria 

 sinensis Rumph. as a synonym. Rumphius {Herb. Amboin., 

 p. 259, t. 91) refers to these two species as varieties, the white 

 and yellow flowered, probably corresponding with C. indicuni, 

 and the red-coloured from Amboyna, where it was only known 

 cultivated. It is mentioned by Thunberg first, in his Flora 

 Japonica, as a native of Japan, and was long before his time 

 cultivated throughout the length and breadth of that country for 

 the beauty of its flowers. We would also refer to Ksempfer 

 {Amcen. Exotic, p. 875), where the plant is called by its vernacular 

 name of Kikku or Kikf. It is noted by Forbes and Hemsley, as 



