11 



BOTANICAL CHARACTER. 



The Dahlia superfltja, parent of all the beautiful 

 double varieties of our gardens, like the other species 

 of the genus, is a native of Mexico. It was first dis- 

 covered there by Baron Humboldt, growing in the 

 sandy meadows of its mountain districts, at an eleva- 

 tion of between four and five thousand feet above the 

 sea. Humboldt sent it to the Botanical Gardens at 

 Mexico, and thence, as we have already stated, it was 

 transmitted to Madrid. 



The genus dahlia is included in the Syngenesia su- 

 perflua Class and Order of the Linnsean System ; 

 and in the Compositse of the Natural arrangement. 

 Its characteristics are as follow. 



Common Calyx double ; the outer of several leaves, 

 6 or 7, ovato-spatulate, reflexed ; inner of one leaf, 

 cup-shaped, in several ovate segments. Corolla, 

 compound, radiant ; florets of the centre perfect, 

 with a tubular, stalked, five-cleft petal ; those of the 

 radius fertile, with an ovate three-toothed petal, equal 

 in number to the segments of the calyx. Stamens 

 (in the perfect florets) filaments five, broadest at the 

 base, inserted into the bottom of the petal ; anthers 

 united into a tube. Pistil : Germen somewhat 

 spatulate, obscurely triangular, notched at the top ; 



