268 
and a compact group of small yellow 
disk-florets. Sometimes the stems reach 
15 or even 18 feet in height, and 
become quite woody toward the base. 
They terminate in a number of slender 
branches, each bearing several flowers, 
not all of which open at one time. The 
flowers face outwards and upwards, one 
of the characteristics which distin- 
guishes this species from D. imperialis. 
The flowers of the latter are distinctly 
nodding. 
When brought into cultivation 
around the huts of the Indians the 
species seems to lose its stability. 
In place of single lilac-pink flowers 
other forms often appear, and since 
the plant is readily propagated by 
cuttings it is a simple matter to repro- 
duce these variations. The single 
white variety is relatively rare, and 
lis flowers are much in demand among 
the Indians for decorating the images 
of saints which all of them keep in 
their homes. The double white is 
somewhat more abundant, and the 
double lilac-pink is perhaps the com- 
monest of all the variations from the 
type. I have seen all of these forms 
both in northern Guatemala (Tactic 
and Coban) and in the central part of 
the country, near Antigua. 
WIDE RANGE OF FORM AND COLOR 
It is evident that the double-flowered 
forms originate as bud-sports from the 
single ones, for I have found numerous 
plants, both in northern Guatemala 
and near Antigua, on which there were 
flowers of both types, as well as inter- 
mediate forms. Figure 22 shows three 
flowers from a single plant growing in 
a hedgerow at Tactic, Alta Verapaz. 
On the left is the typical flower with 
eight ray-florets, and numerous minute 
yellow disk-florets closely crowded to- 
gether. In the center flower many of 
the disk-florets are no longer small and 
The Journal of Heredity 
yellow, but have become more like the 
ray-florets in character and similar in 
color—lilac-pink in this instance. In 
the flower on the right, the disk-florets 
are still larger, and the flower has 
become quite double. Even in the 
double-flowered form, however, the 
ray-florets can be distinguished from 
the altered disk-florets. In the flower 
shown in the photograph, the ray- 
florets appear in the rear, larger and 
broader than the rest. While the typi- 
cal, single-flowered form produces fer- 
tile seed in abuntance, I have been 
unable to find any seed produced by 
the double-flowered varieties. 
The largest flowers, whether single or 
double, measure four or five inches in 
diameter. In the double-flowered forms 
there are various shades of color. I 
have seen a bright lilac-pink—almost a 
pure pink; a deep lilac-pink; and a 
darker shade which could almost be 
called a mauve. 
The wide range of form and color 
which horticulturists have obtained 
from the several species of Dahlia culti- 
vated in the north is familiar to every- 
one. Varieties have been produced 
both by crossing, and through the vege- 
tative propagation -of forms which 
originated as bud-sports. The only de- 
fect of Dahlia maxont, from the north- 
ern horticulturist’s point of view, is the 
long growing season which it requires 
in order to reach the flowering stage. 
But will it not be possible, by crossing 
this species with some of those now 
cultivated in the north, to produce 
interesting and valuable forms which 
will be successful under practically the 
same conditions as the cactus and other 
groups of cultivated dahlias? Certainly 
a species which grows to eighteen feet 
in height, and which exhibits a strong 
tendency to produce handsome double- 
flowered sports, will not be without 
interest to American dahlia breeders! 
