332 Account of the Varieties of Chinese Chrysanthemums 



subsequent loss ; for it is certain that no such plant was in 

 existence either at Chelsea or any where in England when 

 the varieties Ave now have, first appeared amongst us. 



Previous to the introduction of the Chinese Chrysanthe- 

 mums into our gardens in modern times, we possessed tole- 

 rably correct accounts of their variety and beauty from those 

 writers who had described the native plants of China and 

 Japan. K tempter,* in his Amoenitates exoticaz (pages 875, 

 876, and 877), published in 1712, describes, under the name 

 of Matricaria, eight varieties with double flowers, forming 

 a principal ornament of the gardens of the Japanese, who 

 call them, as he mentions, Kik, Kikf or Kikku. Thunberg, 

 in his Flora Japonica (page 320), published in 1784, con- 

 sidering them as belonging to Chrysanthemum Indicum, 

 refers to K^mpfer's account, gives the names of Kikokf and 

 Kiko no Fauna (this last addition being expressive of ele- 

 gance), as well as those of K^mpfer, and says that there 

 are many varieties different in the colour and size of the 

 flower, and that there are single as well as double flowering 

 plants, which are much cultivated in the houses and gardens 

 of Japan, on account of their beauty. Loureiro, in his Flora 

 Cochinchinensis (page 499), published in 1790, also describes 

 them, noticing the variety of the colour of their flowers, 

 which, he states, are White, Blush, Purple, Violet, Yellow, 

 and Red, differing in form and size, and mentions that they 

 are cultivated in the gardens of China and Cochin-china. 



To the zealous gardeners of England, and more especially 



* He is one of the authors not quoted by Linn^us in his Species Plantarum, 

 under Chrysanthemum Indicum. 



