DAHLIA 



DAHLIA 



953 



liant scarlet; fls. irregular in length and overlapping, 

 the rays narrow. The Cactus dahlias all originated 

 from one plant, which was flowered in Eu. for the first 

 time in 1864, and first pictured in G.C. II. 12:433 

 (1879). F.M. 1879:383. Gn. 18, p. 589: 19:742: 50, 

 p. 236. G.Z. 26:49. 



cc. St. glaucous: rays not fertile. 

 coccinea, Cav. (D. bidentifdlia, Salisb. D. Cer- 

 vdntesii, Lag. D. Crocea, Poir.). Fig. 1208, redrawn 

 from B.M. 762 (1804). Always more slender than D. 

 rosea, with narrower Ifts., and in the wild, at least, 

 dwarfer than that species. The color range is much 

 smaller, and does not include white or any shade of 

 purple o'r crimson. The colors vary from scarlet, 

 through orange to yellow. There are no double forms, 

 and it has been said that this species will not hybridize 

 with D. rosea. The named varieties pictured in I.H. 

 31:515 and 533 (1881), which are emphatically 

 declared to be varieties of D. coccmea, are probably 

 garden forms of D. rosea. The only characters that 

 certainly distinguish D. coccinea from D. rosea are the 

 glaucous sts. and infertile rays of the former, but these 

 characters break down in garden forms. B.M. 762. 

 Gn. 19:154. G.C. II. 12:525. 



BB. Lvs. twice pinnate: sts. branched from the base: 

 habit spreading. 



Merckii, Lehm. (D. glabrdta, Lindl.). Fig. 1209, 

 redrawn from B.M. 3878 (1841). Height 2-3 ft.: roots 

 much more slender than those of D. rosea: st. and Ivs. 

 wholly devoid of hairs; Ivs. bipinnate: floral bracts 

 linear; fls. typically lilac; rays pistillate; outer involu- 

 cral bracts linear. B.R. 26:29 (1840). Gn. 19:154 

 (1881). This is a very distinct garden dahlia, and is 

 worth growing merely as a foliage plant. The fine-cut 

 character of the foliage makes it more attractive than 

 the coarse foliage of most of the varieties of D. rosea. 

 The plants are much dwarfer and wider spreading than 

 most florists' dahlias, and show no st. while growing. 

 The branched flowering sts. are remarkably long, slen- 

 der and wiry, often rising 2-3 ft. above the foliage. 

 The rays are very short and often roundish, with a 

 short sharp point instead of 3 minute teeth. There are 

 no red, yellow or white forms in nature. The roots of 

 this and D. coccinea, being slenderer than those of D. 

 rosea, must be preserved with greater care in winter. 



D. grdcilis, Ort. Lvs. bipinnate and ternately divided, gla- 

 brous, the Ifts. small, ovate and coarsely toothed: fls. brilliant 

 orange-scarlet; outer bracts of involucre almost orbicular: 4-5 ft., 

 making a dense bush with very slender growths, bearing heads 

 2J^-3 in. across. Apparently not in general cult. D. pinnMa, 

 Cav. Plant scarcely 3 ft. high, glabrous: Ivs. 5-fpliolate; Ifts. ovate, 

 crenate-dentate, glaucous beneath, sessile; rachis winged : fls. large, 

 solitary; female corolla large, blue-red, exterior involucre with 6-7 

 bracts, ovate, narrowed toward the base, spreading and reflexed- 

 incurved, the interior with coriaceous lobes. The plate of Cavan- 

 illes shows semi-double fls., i.e. with several rows of rays, with the 

 rays incurved at the margin and becoming at the base nearly 

 tubular. D. Zimapdnii, Roezl, is by some retained in Dahlia and 

 by others referred to Bidens; in this work it is described under 



os (C. diversifolius). 



WILHELM MILLER. 

 L. H. B.f 



Types and varieties of the dahlia. 



Practically all of the named varieties of dahlias have 

 come from one immensely variable species, usually 

 known as D. variabilis, but more properly as D. rosea. 

 For garden purposes, however, a second form of great 

 importance, D. Juarezii, the parent of the Cactus 

 forms, must be kept distinct. There are other species 

 cultivated to a slight extent. It is curious that these 

 showy plants should be closely related to a common 

 weed, the beggar's tick, of the genus Bidens; but other 

 species of Dahlia have leaves whose forms pass grad- 

 ually into those of Bidens. Other close allies are 

 Cosmos and Coreopsis. Cosmos flowers are some shade 

 of purple, rarely white in wild nature, and only one 

 species has yellow flowers; Coreopsis has yellow flowers 



only; Bidens, yellow or white; and none of these 

 genera has produced double - flowered forms of the 

 first importance. Dahlia has all these colors and more, 

 being far richer in bright reds, and lacking only sky- 

 blue and its closely related hues, which are seen to 

 perfection in the China asters. 



Although dahlias are popular plants, especially in old 

 gardens, they are destined to still greater popularity 

 from^the new "Cactus," "Decorative," "Peony-flow- 

 ered," and "Collarette" types. There exists a prejudice 

 against dahlias in many localities in which these new 

 types have never been seen. This prejudice is part of a 

 reaction against formal and artificial flowers in general. 

 The old-time dahlias were round hard and sriff like a 

 ball. The new-time dahlias are flatter, and tend 

 toward loose, free, fluffy chrysanthemum-like forms. 

 The dahlia has now become immensely variable. 



Of the important and very variable florists' flowers, 

 the dahlia was one of the latest to come into cultiva- 

 tion. The first break of considerable importance in the 

 wild type occurred about 1814. Up to that time there 

 were perhaps a dozen well-marked colors in good 

 single-flowered varieties. Dahlias had been cultivated 

 in Europe since 1789, and it is a curious fact that 

 they showed signs of doubling the very first year of 

 their European residence; but it was not until twenty- 

 five years later that a marked gain in doubling was 

 made. The dahlia seemed to be undeveloped until 

 1814, when the era of doubling began. Before another 

 twenty-five years had passed, the dahlia had sprung 

 into the front ranks of garden plants. In 1826 there 

 were already sixty varieties cultivated by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. In 1841, one English dealer 

 had over 1,200 varieties. Today it is not uncommon 

 for the leading tradesmen to keep 500 to 1,000 dis- 

 tinct varieties. In the absence of good records, it is 

 conjectured that over 3,000 different names of varie- 

 ties have been published in the catalogues. Most of 

 the varieties are the Show and Fancy types, which are 

 as spherical and regular as possible, and differ only in 

 color. At first the distinction between the two types 



1207. The original Cactus dahlia. D. Jaurezii. 



Reduced from the Gardeners' Chronicle, where 



it was first pictured 



