THE DAHLIA. 



HISTORY. 



This most beautiful of our autumn border flowers 

 being a native of the New World was totally unknown 

 to the ancients ; indeed it was not recognized by 

 botanists before the close of the last century, nor was 

 it introduced to our gardeners until about forty years 

 ago. 



The first discovered species of the genus is that 

 known now to botanists as Dahlia supei*flua, or D. 

 variabilis. It was found in 1789, and named by 

 Cavanilles, a Spanish botanist, in honour of Dahl, a 

 Swedish pupil of Linnaeus, and a cultivator of the 

 same sciences. Some objections have been raised to 

 the name of Dahlia on the ground that it too nearly 

 resembles that before given to a very different genus, 

 Dalea ; but this objection is not sufficient to counter- 

 poise the greater inconveniences attendant upon a 

 change of names. Willdenow, in 1803, gave it the 

 names of Georgina pinnata, but though these were 



