ON THE DAHLIA 



resembles numerous familiar wild sunflowerlike 

 composites, except that its floral envelope is dull 

 scarlet with a yellow center, instead of being yel- 

 low or white. 



We have seen a good many illustrations of the 

 effect of transplanting a plant from one region to 

 another. The dahlia furnishes yet another ex- 

 ample. Brought from sub-tropical Mexico to the 

 relatively cold climate of England, it soon showed 

 the effects of altered climatic conditions. The 

 tendency to vary was accentuated, and when in 

 due course the plant was hybridized with other 

 species brought from the same region, the hybrids 

 took on such modifications as presently to produce 

 races of dahlias so utterly divergent from the 

 parent forms as to be almost unrecognizable. 



Not even a botanist would associate the wild 

 composite with its eight flat florets of ordinary 

 shape and appearance, with the relatively gigan- 

 tic rose-shaped flower made up of an infinite num- 

 ber of tubular florets packed together into a solid 

 head. 



The colors of the flower have been correspond- 

 ingly modified, although the original red and 

 yellow of variabilis, together with the white and 

 crimson of certain other species, form the basis 

 of the coloration of all the cultivated varieties. 



And as to size of stalk, whereas the original 



[207] 



