CHAPTER II 

 DAHLIA HISTORY 



ALTHOUGH the history of the Dahlia in its relation to the 

 garden does not extend over a period exceeding 123 years, 

 it is necessary to go back nearly three centuries in quest of 

 the first description and illustrations of the flower : whether 

 the search might with profit be continued to a more remote 

 period is doubtful. There is no evidence to justify the 

 belief that there is an earlier record of the Dahlia than the 

 one given by Francisco Hernandez, physician to Philip II 

 of Spain, in his work on the plants and animals of New 

 Spain, or Mexico, which was published in 1615. Her- 

 nandez describes the flower under the Mexican name of 

 Acoctii, and the account is of much interest from the fact 

 that two forms D. variabilis and D. crocata are figured 

 in connection therewith, and that both have single flowers. 

 In a book that was based on the foregoing and published 

 at Rome by Vitalis Mascardi in 1651, there is a figure of a 

 Dahlia that, owing probably to indifferent drawing, leaves 

 one in doubt as to whether the flower was double or single. 

 If it is intended to represent a double bloom, there is 

 nothing to show whether the doubling had been effected 

 under natural conditions or within the boundaries of the 

 garden. The probability is that the flower figured was 

 single, and there is no other ground for assuming that the 



