DAHLIA 



DAHLIA 



445 



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

 they showed signs of doublin.tr the very first year of their 

 European residence; but it was not until 25 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 2"> years had passed 

 the Dahlia hud sprung into the front iaua> < f garden 

 plants. In 1826 there were already GO varieties cultivated 

 by the Royal Horticultural Society. 1^4! one English 

 dealer hud over 1,200 varieties. Tc it is not uncom- 



mon for the leading tradesmen v o \ee;> ;"n- >-l ,000 distinct 

 varieties. In the absence of w iec >ras it is conjec- 

 tured that over .'{,000 diil'eren .ey rf varieties have 

 been published in the catalogues. Most of the varieties 

 are the Show and Fancy types, '"hi".' are as spherical and 

 regular as possible, and differ only in color. At first the 

 distinction between the two types seems to have been 

 the same as that between "self tv^red" and "variegated" 

 flowers in general, the former presenting to the view 

 only one color, while the latter presents two or more 

 colors. Lately, for purposes of exhibition in prize com- 

 petitions, the following arbitrary distinction has been 

 adopted: A Show Dahlia is often of one color; but if 

 the edges of the rays are darker than the ground color 

 the variety can be exhibited in the Show section. A 

 Fancy Dahlia always has two or more colors, and if the 

 rays are striped or if the edges are lighter than the 

 ground color the variety must be exhibited in the Fancy 

 section. The two types reached full perfection certainly 

 by 1840, and after that date the improvements made were 

 mostly in matters of secondary importance. The im- 

 mense distance the Dahlia had travelled can be seen in 

 Fig. 663. These types held full sway until about 1879, 

 when the first Cactus Dahlia appeared in England with 

 a promise of new and freer forms. Most of the longest- 

 lived varieties belong to the Show and Fancy type. 

 This form is the one which is perhaps farthest removed 

 from nature, and it is probably so highly esteemed 

 largely because the most work has been spent on it. 



A reaction against formalism in all departments of 

 life and thought set in about the time of our own Civil 

 War. It was in the sixties that the Japanese Chrysan- 

 themums did nmch to emancipate the floral world. 

 With Dahlias the reaction came much later and has pro- 

 ceeded more slowly, because the new forms did not come 

 to us ready made, but had to be slowly evolved against 

 long-standing prejudice. The first Cactus Dahlia was 

 so called because of its resemblance in form, but chiefly 

 in color, to the brilliant crimson-flowered Cereus spe- 

 ciosissimus, a well-known garden plant. The name is 

 now highly inappropriate because the color range of the 

 pure Cactus type has been extended to include all of 

 the important well-defined colors of which the Dahlia 

 seems capable. The original Cactus Dahlia was named 

 Dahlia Juarezii, after President Juarez, the "Wash- 

 ington of Mexico." It was pictured for the first time in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle for 1879, and this interesting 

 picture is here reproduced in a reduced size in Fig. 665. 

 The type is still cultivated under the same name, and in 

 all essentials seems to be unchanged. 



The origin of the Cactus type, as of all the other 

 types of Dahlias, is wrapped in uncertainty, and our 

 efforts to get full and definite information upon some 

 of the most interesting points may perhaps always be 

 baffled. A Dutch dealer got a root from Mexico 

 that produced one plant, which is the parent of all 

 the Cactus forms. It is not known whether the seed 

 which may have produced the original root came 

 from a wild or a cultivated flower. Neither is it 

 known whether any wild single-flowered Dahlia of 

 the Juarezii type has been found. To prove that D. 

 Juarezii is at best only a variety of D. variabilis, it 

 has been said that seedlings of the former have pro- 

 duced in cultivation forms approximating the Show 

 type of D. variabilis. The reverse process is also said 

 to have tuken place, but full, authoritative and convinc- 

 ing statements are lamentably wanting. In the garden 

 D. JiHtrtzii is exceedingly distinct from the florists' 

 forms of D. variabilis. It is usually a slenderer, taller 

 and longer jointed plant, with much handsomer and 

 *nore delicate foliage, the leaves being narrower than 

 in the coarse and almost ugly foliage of the old forms. 

 It has another peculiarity of growth, which is still one 



of the most serious defects in the pure Cactus type. 

 The plants tend to hide some of their flowers beneath 

 their foliage. This comes about in a curious way. At 

 a node between 2 young leaves there commonly appear, 

 at about the same time, 3 new growths. The middle 

 one develops into a flower with a naked stalk only 2 or 

 3 inches long, while the side shoots quickly overtop it 

 and repeat the same 3-fold story indefinitely. The other 

 most serious objection to the pure Cactus type is that it 



660. A single Dahlia with rounder rays than the 

 wild prototype. 



does not stand shipment well, and does not last as long 

 as a cut-flower as the Show Dahlias. 



The Decorative or Cactus Hybrid types are numerous, 

 and their popularity comparatively recent. They have 

 been largely seedlings from Show fls. Their rays are 

 rarely, if ever, recurved at the margins. All the other 

 types of Dahlias are well defined, and a single picture of 

 each one will represent its type with sufficient exactness. 

 No one picture, however, can give any conception of the 

 great variety of forms included in this horticultural sec- 

 tion. The name Cactus Hybrids means practically "mis- 

 cellaneous," and is analogous to the "Japanese" section of 

 Chrysanthemums, which is purposely left by the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society as vague and undefined as pos- 

 sible. It is on this section and the pure Cactus type that 

 the greatest hopes for the future of the Dahlia are based. 



The Pompon type is a small brother of the Show and 

 Fancy types. It has the same colors and the same form, 

 but the flowers are smaller and more abundant. As 

 a rule the smaller the flowers the prettier and more 

 individual they are. The larger they are, the more they 

 suffer by comparison with the Show type. Perhaps 

 their greatest point is their productiveness. When pro- 

 fusion is the main idea, not great size and quality, the 

 Pompons are the favorite type of Dahlia for cut-flowers. 

 The single flowers may be just as freely produced, but 

 they are not so lasting as cut-flowers. 



The Single type has had many ups and downs. In 

 the reaction against formalism it came to the front 



