58 



HOME AND FLOWERS 



THE STORY OF THE DAHLIA 



Translated from the German by Lawrence B. Fletcher 



THE dahlia, as we know it, is a work 

 of art, like its near relative, the chrys- 

 anthemum, and many other "florists' 

 flowers." 



In 1784, Vincent Cervantes, director of the 

 botanical garden in the city of Mexico, sent 

 to Cavanilles, the director of the Madrid 

 botanical garden, a plant unknown to bot- 

 anists. It was a tall, spindly affair, v,dth 

 nodding little flowers, each of which had a 

 yellow central disk surrounded by five or 

 six red or orange petals. Cavanilles called 

 it Dahlia, in honor of the recently deceased 

 Swedish botanist, Dahl. But when the plant 

 came to Germany, where the name dahlia 

 had already been given to another plant, 

 the botanist Wildenow conferred upon the 

 newcomer the name Georgina, by which 

 name it has been universally known in Ger- 

 many until within recent years. This name 

 was given in honor, not of George III. of 

 England, as has been commonly assumed, 

 but of a Russian explorer named Georgi. 

 Dahlias were great rarities in Europe until 

 Humboldt and Bonpland brought bac:k a 

 quantity of seed on their return from 

 Mexico. 



Botanists and gardeners soon noticed the 



extraordinary facility with which the color 

 of the flowers could be varied, and their 

 interest increased when the first double 

 dahlia was produced in 1808. Then arose a 

 keen rivalry in the production of new va- 

 rieties of form and color among the English 

 and. German florists. Prizes amounting to 

 hundreds of dollars were offered for the 

 finest new sorts. In Germany, as recently 

 as the '70's, three or four dollars was some- 

 times paid for one flower. 



The English florists took the lead in the 

 development of the dahlia until about 1835, 

 after which they were hard pressed by the 

 Germans. In 1836 one of the latter exhibited 

 200 varieties, mostly of his own production. 

 Alexander von Humboldt, who had watched 

 the dahlia's triumphal progress with keen 

 interest, v^^as astounded by the effect of cul- 

 tivation on the one time modest field flower 

 of Mexico. 



The florists' lists of thirty years ago con- 

 tained about 2,000 varieties of dahlias, and 

 the whole number of varieties produced up 

 to the present time is between 5,000 and 

 6,000. These are not all in existence, how- 

 ever, as many even of the most celebrated 

 soon died out. 



A CORNER OF BOSTON S NEW HORTICULTURAL HALL 



