198 



REPORT ON THE 



edge. A very trifling change would give us a purple flower with 

 a green edge, and changes of that kind are common enough. 



Strange to say, edged flowers were not received with open 

 arms by the faculty. They had to win their way slowly to the 

 favour of the florists, and on the principle that the world knows 

 not its greatest men, the gardening world in general was for a 

 long time ignorant of this unique production ; this most precious 

 of all the jewels in the diadem of Queen Flora. The proof of this 

 will furnish matter for a paragraph. 



In Miller's Dictionary, first published 1731, the edged flowers 

 obtained no recognition, but Miller provided a good code of judg- 

 ing Auriculas, minus, of course, certain points that are of peculiar 

 importance now. The fact proves that the flower had acquired 

 extensive popularity, and inspired some kind of corporation that 

 for present purposes may be designated the Auricula Fancy. 

 Even in 1676, fifty years after Parkinson had so nearly witnessed 

 the making of the florists' Auricula, John Rea, in his " Florilege," 

 described striped flowers, and advised the selection of flowers 

 " with white eyes that will not wash." 



The subject obtains scientific treatment in Hill's "British 

 Herbal " (1756), and the author, John Hill, M.D., boldly de- 

 clares that many of the so-called species of authors " are no 

 other than varieties of this plant rising from culture." At page 

 98 he speaks of the yellow Auricula as standing alone, and apart 

 from those that produce red and purple flowers. Of these last 

 he says there are three species not directly related to the yellow 

 Auricula, and these he describes as narrow-leaved, round-leaved, 

 and long-leaved. To one of the descriptions he adds the remark 

 that " there is no judging by what one sees in gardens, where 

 the accidents occasioning varieties are endless; but in those 

 collected wild there is no error." 



In Hill's" Eden," by the same John Hill, published 1757, Auri- 

 culas are fairly treated of, but edged flowers are not mentioned. 

 Hanbury's " Body of Gardening," 1770, gives a hint in the way of 

 our search in speaking of variegated Auriculas. It is a question 

 of some importance whether the variegated flower of Hanbury 

 was the striped flower of Parkmson, or a modification of that 

 edged flower that had been noted as a curiosity a hundred and 

 fifty years before. There is clear evidence in the "Florist" of 

 1849, that in the year 1732 the edged flowers were not generally 



