448 DAHLIA 



proved. Wild Dahlias, when brought into cultivation, 

 soon grewtoo tall to be self-supporting. An old-fashioned 

 unbranched Dahlia tied to a large and ugly stake was 

 often a hopeless and helpless object. Many varieties of 

 Dahlias can be made to branch at the ground and be- 

 come self-supporting by successive early pinchings of 



Show Dahlia and its wild proeenitor (X}^). 



the leading shoots, but some varieties seem to be too 

 firmly set in the old tree-like habit to subn)it to pinch- 

 ing. In the early days the avem^-e lu-isht of plants 

 may have been 5 ft. Nowadays :i ft. is |>i-rli;qps the 

 average, but the tendency to ninin i.nlv liu.nt furms 

 still continues, and the Dahlia lull -I uIumkiIi K li. freed 

 from stakes. The main thini; i^ i" >.rnir ilir ^-ood 

 flower first and improve the halMt l;i-.i. ii in^ii.le. It 

 is to be hoped that the coarser kiinU .■! i.iii:iLr « ill f;ive 

 way to more gi'aceful and attrai-ti\i iMnn-, Tht "fern- 

 leaved" type is a much cut and (Iriirnt, kii,,i. Ami 

 Barillet has handsome dark iiur|>l( . tin- ly cut foliage. 

 All till- abovi- f.iitiin s i-,.|,r, ,. m -i mral tendencies 

 whii-li, lii.\vr\ .T, work .mt \ i i\ .lirinrntiy in each im- 

 portant ilL^. . 



Thf |i,ilili,-i li.'is li:i,i Miir .liillniln ^is peculiar to it- 

 self a-^ !' il' -, i.iM-iiiiL' -1' til. I ■iirniiiii.ii. ortlip differ- 

 ent vain. .1 -■■..11 iiii.l liriiiiiial laiiK of ( 'li rvsanthe- 



This i- ■ , ... . . li.ii 111 till. .-. iilir i.f a l.l.issom 



formcil l.\ 111.. 1 • ili\ii|lli-ral l.rarls. wliirli. at that 



stage, arc luii^'t-r tlitiii the vmopened rays which they 

 protect. Oftener still, this "green eye " is followed by a 

 yellow center. This "green eye "is still considered to 

 destroy the unity of a flower, and in exhibitions is often 



How disk can be cut 

 1. ritiost rays carefully re- 

 . .'1 I' . ulty associated with this 

 . - .^i;.. .\lii(.'h some Dahlias open. 

 Ill ^1. all. I 111 Fig. 663, where the sue- 

 1 lowii: the outer ones are the most 

 iin s a series of cupped rays; then 

 . folded with two creases, and finally 

 A poor Show Dahlia opens slowly, 

 Iiile the outer rays are tumbling out, 

 withering, or being burned by the sun. A good Show 

 Dahlia opens its tiers in rapid succession, and shows no 

 green eye. 



Literature.— As in many other cases, the magazine 

 literature of the Dahlia is the most bulky, and, in some 

 respects, more important than the books on the subject. 



placed, 

 matter is 

 The mil.., 

 cessivo ^ 

 expaii.l..i 





DAHLIA 



The latest bibliographv is that by C. Harman Payne 

 in G.C. III. 21:329(1897). There have been about 25 

 books devoted to the Dahlia, many of them pamphlets 



and cheap ctiltural manuals. These I ks won mostlv 



published from 1828 to 1857, with noiio at all fo, ih aily 

 40 years after that date until 1890. wkoi, l.a\M-, n.., K. 

 Peacock's book. The Dahlia, which is tin h.-t .\iinri.an 

 book, made its appearance. The first American treatise 

 was by E. Sayers, published at Boston, 1839, and now 

 forgotten Many mterestmg facts came out m 1889 the 

 centenn il year of the Dnhl a \ report of the National 

 nil f I f the Journal of the 



111! but Shirley Hib 



I the botany of the 



111 1 lev s revision of 



11 (1879) which IS the 



lat 



He git tall tree I le 

 7 oil g hell si aped 

 1 H It b-18 ft Stem u allv un 

 4 1 1 Ivs 2-3 pmn it 1 i rt d 



1 fl e base acuminate t fl 1 

 1 ft ha rs fls no 1 1 >, 4 

 r I t nged w th blood re 1 espe 

 r le or pi filiate lanceolate 

 1 1 at the apex C t 1803 407 

 II B M M rn 1" n ■)■? 



or gmal pi f II 1 I } K 1 f u 1 1 1 or 



cultivated s irroundings Tl is species an I tl next 

 are mostly cultivate 1 under glass the others are ^r wn 

 outdoors in summer and the roots stored m w nter 



BB Fls iiect, not bell shaped, but opening out flat. 



exofilsa, Benth {V aibdiea, Kegel) Height Jl) ff. or 

 more stem tisu ilh iinbnnched gliucotis marked with 

 horizontil nii -s m i 1 tl t iti li i in ' 1 isc of the 

 petioles I 11 I ill 1 1 1] innate, as 



much Ts II I 11 an as 25, 



ovate, fli I'll I it the base, 



acumin If t tl I i I ' 1 1 i few short 



scattered h iirs rn m lis 4' in i rcss dilute purple, 



^^■WL. 



;-double form of Dahlia {X%). 

 ■ tlL-it have 

 perfect the Show and Fancy types. 



crimson-pink. Maund, Botanist 2: 88 (1838 ?). G.C. II. 

 19: 80.- This was described from a cultivated plant with 

 8 rays in a single row, but with considerably elongated 

 disk fls. It was almost an anemone-flowered type, and 



