6o6 



NA TURE 



[April 25, 1895 



Doabting this account, and searching records of the early 

 cnltare of the Cineraria for my own satisfaction, I found a good 

 deal of miscellaneous information on the subject. The history 

 is not yet quite complete ; but as Mr. Dyer's account has now 

 appeared in print, the following notes may be of use. 



In the ordinary manuals (e.g. Burbidge, Propagation &c., 

 1S77, p. 250) it is said that the florists' Cinerarias are hybrids, 

 obtained by crossing and recrossing several species of Ctnerariii 

 (or more strictly Sencn'o). As to the exact parentage, there is 

 not entire certainty. Burbidge gives C. crtunta, aurila aiid 

 lanata as the parents. Other writers mention C. maderensis, 

 multifiora, tiissilagitiis and topulifolia as having contributed 

 (cp. four, d'hort. Gand, ii. 1846, pi 231). General statements 

 of a like nature are made by many. For the account given by 

 Mr. Dyer I find no authority except one, an article by Rolfe 

 {Card. Chron. iSSS (i), p. 653). Here C. criieiila is given as 

 the sole parent, and a figure of this species raised at Kew, from 

 wild seed, is shown beside two extreme flowers of the modern 

 type. Excepting this statement, it seems agreed that the 

 species originally concerned are at least four : crucnta, aiirtia, 

 popiilifotia and lanata. The first three have comparatively 

 small flowers in corymbs or cymes. Those of cnienta, intro- 

 duced from Canary by Masson to Kew in 1777. '^''^ purple. 

 This species was originally described from Teneiifl'e by 

 L'Htritier, Sert. Angl. 1788, pi. 33, and is figured Bot. Mag. 

 t. 406, and elsewhere. The lower surface of the leaves is 

 purplish. The petioles have auricular expansions. C. aurita, 

 sent to Kew from Madeira 1790, figured by L'lluritier, pi. 31, 

 and Bot. Mag. t. 17S6, is a somewhat different plant, of more 

 slender habit, said to be more akin to populilolia. The flovyers 

 are purple. Ray-florets few and irregular. Petiolar expansions 

 variable, mostly much smaller than in crucnta. C. populiJoUa 

 L. Her., Canaries, brought by Masson from Teneriffe 1780, 

 is a form with yellow flowers. C. lanata, L'Hcr. pi. 30, and 

 Bot. Mag. t. 53, is a plant very different from any of the others. 

 It bears large purple flowers, some two inches across, only one 

 to a peduncle. The leaves are cordatesubrotund and sept- 

 angular, and woolly underneath. L'Huriiier gives it as from 

 Teneriffe. The Bot. .Mag. wrongly says it had been introduced 

 from Africa (perhaps confusing with lanosa, DC. = lanata 

 Thunb.). The large flowers and peculiar leaves at once dis- 

 tinguish this species from the rest. 



It should be added that populifolia in its native state showed 

 considerable diversity in the forms of its leaves, three varieties 

 being specified by Decandolle, Prodr. vi. p. 409. A natural 

 variety of the .same species with -.i'liili flowers was brought from 

 Teneriffe by Webb. This is the S. leuiantlius DC. It is 

 figured in Flor. Cab. i. p. 73, from a specimen grown in Bir- 

 mingham Botanic Garden. \% to these species, references to 

 further information may be found in Decandolle, Prodr., and in 

 Webb, Phytogr. Canar., &c. 



These four species with others were at the beginning of this 

 century pretty generally distributed in greenhouses in England, 

 France, and Germany. They are enumerated in most of the 

 horticultural treatises of the period, with directions for their 

 propagation. C. lanata was thought the best. " It far exceeds 

 all others cultivated here in the beauty of its flowers. ... It is 

 valuable on account of its hardiness, its readiness to flower, and 

 the facility with which it may be propagated." Kees' Cycl. 

 oj Arts and Sei. viii. i8ig. Others speak to like effect. 



The first mention I have found of any distinct garden form is 

 that of Willdenow, who in " Enum. PI. Berol." 1809, p. S93, 

 gives C. hybrida, saying that this plant is grown in gardens 

 under the name of C. cruenta, but that it in reality differs much 

 (rom the latter, and has flowers almost like those of C. lanata. 



Between 1820 and 1830 definite eff'orts were made to improve 

 the Cineraria. The first published is that of Bouchc. Writing in 

 the " Verh. zur Belord. d. 'iartenbauer, 15erl.,"i. 1824, p. 139, he 

 says that having grown C, lanata 1,'ilcr., C. cruenta L'lltr., 

 and C. hybrida Willd., and noticed that the first two seeded 

 freely, it occurred to him to try to raise varieties or sports 

 \Spielarten), and at the same lime to test the distinctness of 

 these species. His seedlings flowered in the following year. 

 Those (rom C. cruenta had the flowers rose-red, except one which 

 wa» quite white, the flowers of the parent being dark red. The 

 seedlings from C. hybrida varied so much that they might be 

 mistaken for separate species. Ilis words are as follows: — 

 " Untcr dcnen von dcr Cin. hybrida zeichnetcn sich liesonders 

 funf Abanderungen aus, wclche eine ganz eigcnthiimliches 

 Anschcn bekommcn habco, und Icicht von Botanikcrn, dcncn 



die Entstehungsart derselben nicht bekannt ist, fiir neae, noch 

 unbeschriebene Arten dieser Gattung gehilten werden 

 kdnnlen.'' His description follows. In particular, the foliage 

 had varied greatly from the parent form, somewhat resembling 

 lanata, suggesting to Bouche that there may have been 

 hybridisation with that species. 



About the same time Mr. Drammond, then Curat'jr of the 

 Botanic Garden, Cork, published a paper in the CirJ. Mag. ii. 

 1S27, p. 153. He says that Cinerarias are favourites with him, 

 especially cruenta, "(or be>ides the great be,auty an! variety 

 in the flowers, its fine purple blossom • form a beautiful con- 

 trast, &c." " We seldom see it cultivated to the extent it merits. 

 The following account of the method I have followed fjr some 

 years of growing this plant. . . miy turn the attention of your 

 readers to the cultivation of the C cru-.nla, the effects of which 

 wiU, in all probability, be the production of fine double and single 

 varieties of different colours, as it sports greatly from seed. 

 [Italics are mine.] Except in cases when it becomes desirable 

 to preserve any particular variety for its superior be.auty, I 

 prefer raising the C. cruenta from seeds. . . . Care should be 

 taken to select the finest varieties, and those that produce 

 the largest and finest heads or corymbs of flowers. " "The 

 other greenhouse species I cultivate are lanata, hybrida, 

 gei/olia and amelloides. These I increase by cuttings, Sec." 



It happens that in the same year (1827) of the Card. Mag, 

 p. 446, there is a reference to Bouche's paper. Not improbably 

 Drunimond may have read the latter, for in Loudon's Ladies' Mag. 

 of Card. 1842, p. Ill, I find this passage :" Most of the purple. 

 Cinerarias are varieties or hybrids of C. cruenta. ... It was 

 long a favourite in greenhouses, and was generally propagated 

 by dividing the roots; but about 1S27, Mr. Drummond, 

 Curator of the Botanic G.irden in Cork, having raised it from 

 seed, and found the seedlings vary considerably, conceived the 

 idea of hybridising it with C. lanata, C. geifolia and C. amel- 

 loides, Ihe trials, however, with C, geifolia [a true Cape 

 Cineraria] and C. {Agath.ca] amelloides do not appear to have 

 succeeded ; but between C. cruenta and C. lanata some hand- 

 some hybrids were raised. Since that time numerous experi- 

 ments have been made and hybrids have been raised, &c." .\ 

 summary follows. 



Soon after this a number of definite seedlings or "sports" 

 came into existence. Of some of these there are good records. 

 I will mention four which are represented by good coloured 

 plates. C. watcrhousiana is said to have been a hybrid, the 

 result of the seed of C. tussilaginis, fertilised by the pollen of 

 crucnta (Pa.xton's .'ifag. of Bot. iv. 1838, p. 43, and Ladies' 

 Mag. i.e.). In general appearance it rather resembled tussila- 

 ginis (one of I.'Hcritier's species which had died out, and was 

 introduced again in 1832 by Webb. See Bot, Mag, t. 3215.) 

 This must have been a very fine plant. It had large r<ri/flower3, 

 about two and a half inches across, with long narrow ray- 

 florets something like lanata. 



The next case I shall take is a plant which first flowered iiv 

 a garden near Belfast, called var. cyanophthalmus in Bot, Mag. 

 1840, t. 3827. It had long white rays and a blue disc. Sir 

 W. J. Hooker says of it : " Notwithstanding the very unusual 

 colour of the flowers for one of the Composilrc, 1 have little 

 hesitation in referring it to . . . the old C, lanata of our 

 gardens. The foliage is the same, and the structure of the 

 flowers ; but the colour of the blossoms is very different, and 

 in our variety of a most unusual character." He tlien recalU 

 Dccandolle's well-known remark \\\a\ yellow in Composila- may 

 vary to red or white, but not to lilue, and, on the other hand, thai 

 blue may vary to red or white, but never into yellow. lie .idds : 

 " Not only in our plant is the lilac-coloured r.iy ol the flower 

 changed to white, and the deep lilac or blood-red purple of the 

 ray [disc] changed to a very bright blue, but the stigmas, which 

 are deep orange in the original stock, are also intensely blue, 

 and the anthers are purple-black." 



Another seedling of a very different type, famous in its day, 

 was webberiana. It was figured in J'axt, .Mag. Bot. ix. 1842, 

 p. 125. The flowers were of a deep blue, the rays being short 

 and wide, comp.ared to those of watcrhousiana, for example. 

 "It was raised from seed ripened promiscuously on a number 

 of plants of v.irious kinds blooming together, \.c." In the 

 Card. Chron. 1842, it was advertised at loj. 6d. a plant. 



Another sport, pinkish and white, is figured in the /''otanist, 

 V. 1841, No. 215. " It came up accidentally, some years ago, 

 from self-sown seeds, in one of the pots of the greenhouse, so 

 that I cannot say anything certain about its parentage." The 



NO. 1330, VOL. 51] 



