THE OEIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CACTUS DAHLIA. 475 



beauty of a single flower consists in the perfect flatness of the floret of which 

 we are speaking. To form a Show or Pompon these florets are, of course, 

 so increased in number that not only is there one row of florets at the 

 back of the flower, but the inside almost to its very centre is filled with 

 florets in various stages of development, the outside ones developing first. 

 Now, in the case of a Show or Pompon variety, if a floret is taken out it 

 will be seen to be much shorter and fuller in width than in the single 



Fia. 230. — ' Innovation.' 



flower, and, instead of opening out flat nearly down to its base, it retains 

 somewhat the shape in which it was formed, only in a rounded instead of 

 a flattened or folded form. It is this which gives us the beautiful shell- 

 shaped petal in the Show and Pompon Dahlias. 



In the formation of the Cactus Dahlias the florets are found folded 

 exactly in the same way, but they are very long indeed compared with 

 their width and escape at the edges, forming, in the case of the older 



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