18 NAT. ORDER. COMPOSITE. 



New as this plant is to us, it appears to have been cultivated 

 in China for ages. Linnaeus, who describes it in his Species Plan- 

 ter, refers to a figure in the Hortus Malaharicus. His figure and 

 the description accompanying it, agree generally with our plant ; 

 but the flowers are more double, much smaller, less clustered, and 

 do not corresjaond in color, yet there can be no doubt but that our 

 plant is a variety of the same. It is there described as growing 

 in sandy situations, and having green petals. 



Rumpliius, an ancient author, observes, that these plants were 

 originally brought from China, where they flower in May and 

 June ; that there are two sorts principally cultivated in India, — 

 the white and the yellow flowered ; and a third sort, differing only 

 in the color of its flowers, which are red. The variety here de- 

 scribed began to be known among them at Amboyna ; but the 

 flowers did not expand well, owing to their being produced at the 

 rainy season, and they decay without producing any seed. 



He tells us further, that it is cultivated chiefly for pleasure ; 

 that the natives and the Dutch plant it mostly in the borders of 

 their gardens, where it does not thrive as well as when planted in 

 pots ; and that, if it remains more than two years in the same 

 spot, it degenerates, becomes less woody, and often wholly per- 

 ishes ; that the Chinese, by whom it is held in high estimation, 

 pay great attention to its culture. They set it in pots and jars, 

 and place it before the windows of their apartments, and at their 

 entertainments decorate their tables with it. On these occasions, 

 he that produces the largest flower, is considered as conferring tlije 

 greatest honor on his guests. Besides these three varieties already 

 mentioned, they have a fourth, whicli is still more rare, and whose 

 flowers are of a greenish ash color. All these varieties growing 

 in separate pots, they place in certain quarters, which they par- 

 ticularly wish to decorate; and the effect they produce is highly 

 pleasing. In the cultivation of this plant they spare no pains : — 

 the shorter it is, and the larger its flowers, the more it is esteemed. 



