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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 



By Mr. C. Harman Payne, F.R.H.S. 



Writers on China and Japan for many years past have con- 

 curred in assigning to the Chrysanthemum an origin of remote 

 antiquity ; but, after much research, it is unsatisfactory to note 

 that not one has endeavoured to fix, with any degree of certainty, 

 the date when this popular flower became first cultivated as a 

 florist's flower in those far-distant countries. The time allotted 

 to the reading of this paper precludes anything like an explana- 

 tion of the course pursued to ascertain some definite knowledge 

 on this subject, and it must suffice for present purposes to say 

 that the Chrysanthemum has in all probability been grown in 

 China for upwards of two thousand years. 



There is no doubt that this flower is indigenous to China, 

 that it is a cultivated form of some wild plant long since lost or 

 impossible to recognise now, and that, after it had acquired a 

 worthy reputation in the Celestial Empire, it became introduced 

 into the islands of Japan, there to obtain a measure of admira- 

 tion equalling, if not surpassing, that bestowed upon it in its 

 native land. 



The earliest known reference in Chinese literature to the 

 Autumn Queen occurs in the " Li-Ki " of Confucius, who lived, if 

 we can trust the evidence of Chinese chronology, about five hun- 

 dred years before Christ. In that work the celebrated Chinese 

 philosopher makes distinct mention of the flower to which we 

 pay our homage this day. 



To come to somewhat recent times, we learn that one T'ao- 

 ming-yang was a cultivator of no inconsiderable repute, and that 

 in consequence of his successful cultivation the name of the city 

 in which he lived was thenceforth known as Chrysanthemum 

 City. I have used the expression " somewhat recent times " in 

 the Chinese historical sense, for at the period when T'ao-ming- 

 yang lived and grew Chrysanthemums our forefathers were 

 under the dominion of the Romans. 



What kind of flowers they were in those far-off times we can- 

 not tell, but there is good reason for supposing they bore some 

 affinity to the varieties introduced from China a hundred years 



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