The Dahlia, 355 



ture of .the Dahlia in the neighborhood of Paris, and he intro- 

 duced into the garden at St. Cloud, from Malmaison, three 

 varieties, from which he raised numerous others. About the 

 same time, M. Otto, curator of the Botanic Garden at Berlin, 

 obtained numerous varieties by hybridization, some of which 

 were very beautiful. When the continent was thrown open, 

 by the approach of the Allies to Paris, in 1814, the British ama- 

 teurs and florists who visited it, were astonished at the beauty 

 of the Dahlias in the French gardens; and since that period, 

 the cultivation of Dahlias has been common, and many varie- 

 ties have been raised, of great beauty of form and brilliancy of 

 color. 



The Dahlia, in its native state,'is one of the radiate-flowered 

 Composite, having eight ligulate florets in the ray, and nume- 

 rous tubular ones in the disk. The ray florets are vulgarly 

 called the petals, and the flower becomes double when these 

 are greatly increased in number, and those of the disk disap- 

 pear. When this is not the case, the flower is considered im- 

 perfect. Sometimes the ray florets become tubular, when they 

 are said to be quilled. Each floret has a membranous, half- 

 transparent bract, and when the florets are carefully picked 

 out so as to leave 'all the bracts remaining, the Dahlia appears 

 changed into a kind of everlasting flower of considerable deli- 

 cacy and beauty. In judging of a Dahlia, the attention is 

 directed to its form, color and size. The form of a fine flower 

 should be as nearly round as possible, with the largest florets 

 at the edge, and decreasing gradually towards 'the centre, 

 where they are frequently raised into what is called a crown. 

 The outer florets should be broader and flatter than the inner 

 ones, which are always more or less tubular, preserving the 

 character of disk florets, though of the same color as those of 

 the ray. When there is a crown, the florets composing it 

 should be placed close together, so as entirely to hide the disk ; 

 as, if either green or yellow be seen in the centre of any Dah- 

 lia, it is disqualified from becoming a prize flower. The color 

 is of ho consequence, provided it be clear and bright; and the 

 size is also of little importance, unless the Dahlia be naturally 

 one with large-sized flowers. 



The greater number of Dahlias now grown in gardens, have 



