japonica maxima, and they are spoken 

 of as bearing large flowers, white, 

 yellow, blush, purple, and crimson in 

 colour. They were rechristened, and 

 as by far the greater number showed 

 yellow blossoms, the name chrysan- 

 themum was given, "golden flower" 

 from the Greek words cbrysos, gold, 

 and anthos, flower. 



Breynuis, a famous old botanist, 

 tells how these flowers were brought 

 from Japan to Holland in 1689, and 

 how skilful and patient men worked 

 over them for many years, changing 

 them from their single form to double, 

 button, pompon, and other varieties. 

 Reede, an English gardener, writes 

 about having some as early as 1699, and 

 Linnaeus mentions them in 17^3, by 

 which time they were no longer scarce. 



Who would imagine that the huge, 

 thousand-leaved ball, which is the 

 present form of the flower, belongs to 

 165 



