L 65 ] 



CHRYSANTHEMUM MATRICARIOIDES 



HYBRIDUM. 



TTijlrid Chusan Daisy Chrysanthemum. 



Linnean Class— Syngenesia. Order— Polygamia Supeuflua. Natural Order — CoMPOSrjJB. 



Ant eulogium of the old Chrysanthemum sinense, and its innumerable varieties, 

 would at this hour be altogether out of place ; for probably few of the thousands 

 of exotic plants introduced during the last fifty years are now so widely diffused, 

 as this valuable autumnal ornament of our gardens ; and whether we regard only 

 the abundance of its beautiful blossoms, which would render it welcome at any 

 season, or value it chiefly from the circumstance of its enlivening the garden at a 

 period when its summer glories are departed, it must be conceded, that never was 

 popularity better deserved than that enjoyed by this, the last floral offering to the 

 garland of the year. 



A new race of Chrysanthemums has recently appeared, which are likely to 



prove as acceptable to Florists of every grade as the older and larger varieties — 



we allude to the Lilliputian, or Pompone Chrysanthemums, of which a group is 



represented in our plate for the present month. They owe their origin to the 



introduction of the Chrysanthemum matriearioides, or Chusan daisy, sent from China 



by Mr. Fortune, in 1846, to the Horticultural Society. From this species, which 



is of comparatively humble growth, with white flowers, the Continental Florists 



have obtained, by hybridization with the pollen of the varieties of C. sinense, 



a class of plants possessing the colouring of the older kinds, with the dwarfer 



habit and smaller flowers of the Chusan daisy. "We believe that, for all the hybrids 



hitherto raised between the two species, we are indebted to the French Florists, 



as, unfortunately, in this country the Chrysanthemums do not ripen seed ; and we 



have, indeed, understood that it is only in the south of France that our neighbours 



are completely successful in bringing the seed to maturity. The result of this 



monopoly is, that many varieties have been introduced and sold in this country 



which have but little to recommend them, for the coloured representations sent 



round to the trade by the French Florists are by no means to be depended on ; 



and for this reason, we have declined publishing figures of the newest seedlings, as 



we should have been unable to guarantee their exactitude. We are, however, of 



the number of those who think that a good plant is none the worse for being one 



or two seasons old ; and we have, therefore, ventured to publish a group selected 



