12 The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia 



book "Icones et Descriptiones Plantarium" 

 which was published in 1791 under the name 

 Dahlia pinnata. 



Later Cavanilles mentioned several other 

 species of the dahlia, D. coccinea, D. rosea, and 

 D. bidentifolia. These may or may not have 

 been variations in flowers only, and mistaken for 

 botanical species. Such mistakes were con- 

 stantly made during the forty years following, 

 and were the causes of many disagreements 

 among botanists of all nations. 



Seeds from plants producing red flowers, 

 sent to some other gardens, produced plants 

 bearing yellow or white ones, and resulting 

 arguments like that of Salisbury, quoted here, 

 followed. Roots shipped from Madrid to Ber- 

 lin, which had produced strong bushy plants, 

 grew plants of tall, slender habit, due to the 

 cooler, moister climate; the quality of soil al- 

 tered the colour, and controversies, not unlike 

 that between the grower of present time and 

 his customer, ensued. 



After 1803, when seeds reached various botan- 

 ical gardens of Europe, reports and opinions from 

 England and France differed so widely and were 

 so far from the mark, that they are amusing read- 

 ing nowadays. 



The best and most thorough treatise on the 



