474 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



it twenty years ago. If we take the bud of any Dahlia which has just 

 begun to open and to show colour, it will be noticed that in a beautifully 

 regular way each separate floret (quite distinct from its neighbour, and 

 which, as a botanist would tell us, is to all intents and purposes a separate 

 flower in itself) has from the first been formed with its two 

 edges folded over and upwards, and generally with its tip or point 



Fig. 229. — 'Viscountess Sherbrooke.' 



bent inwards. Each of these florets is protected by a sheath or 

 bract, which is usually transparent or only slightly tinted with green, and 

 it is this bract which, when the floret has fallen off, protects the seed 

 until it is ripe. As growth proceeds the floret only increases in size, and, 

 from being folded with its edges inwards, gradually assumes in the case 

 of a single flower a flat or open form down quite close to its base, and the 



