160 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



Marchioness of Bute. This lady kept it in the 

 greenhouse, and from this species (Dahlia va- 

 riabilis) nearly all the numerous varieties have 

 been obtained. In the field of Mexico it is a 

 single flower, not remarkable for the bright- 

 ness of its purple or lilac tint, and growing to 

 the height of about eight feet. Few flowers 

 vary more in colour when under cultivation, 

 and we have now the dark purple and rich- 

 est puce, with every shade of scarlet, crimson, 

 and pink ; while the dahlia of pure ■white, 

 or delicate yellow, grows beside others streaked 

 •with the variegated hues of the tuli}) or ranun- 

 culus : though that great desire of florists has 

 not yet been fulfilled in any approach towards 

 a blue dahlia, nor is it often of unmingled 

 whi More than two hundred varieties have 



been raised from the seeds of the common 

 purple flower. 



In 1802, two other species of dahlia were 

 added to that akeady in the garden. They 

 were both procured from Mexican lands. The 

 barren, rugged dahlia, (^Dahlia frustranca,) and 

 the scarlet flower, (Dahlia coccinea,) both, how- 

 ever, produce smaller blossoms and fewer va- 

 rieties ; and the variable dahlia, which was first • 

 brought into our land, is still the favourite 

 flower of the florist. A species of recent intro- 

 duction, (^Dahlia excelsa,) called the tree dahlia, 

 is said to attain, in Mexico, the height of 

 thirty feet, with a stem proportionably thick. 



The Mexicans boil and eat the tuberous 

 roots of the dahlia ; but even could we spare 



