192 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
bearing, because tlio flowers appear to rise on scapes from the root, on account of the shortness of the stem. The 
roots are not so fleshy as those of the common kinds, and some of them are quite fibrous. This species, like the 
others, is a native of Mexico, whence it was sent to Berlin; and seeds of it were sent by M. Otto to Mr. Cameron, 
curator of the Birmingham garden, in 1838. The plant flowers in July and August, and seeds freely ; and if 
the seeds are sown on a hotbed in February, it will flower the same year. In most cases, the roots may be 
taken up in the ordinary manner ; or left in the ground, and protected with a mat, or a covering of straw or 
dead leaves. No double flowers have as yet been raised of this species. 
6.— DAHLIA GLABRATA, Lindl. THE SMOOTH DWARF DAHLIA. 
cut, ciliated. Florets of the ray fertile. Involucre with the outer 
leaflets linear and spreading. 
Engravings.— Bot. Reg. for 1840, t. 29; and our/^.4, in Plate 47. 
Specific Character. — Stem hollow, very smooth. Leaves bipin- 
nate, and smooth, ivith a winged rachis. Leaflets ovate-acute, coarsely 
Description, &c. — This species differs from D. scapigera in growing about three feet high, and having 
bipinnate leaves, and a hollow stem. The flowers also are lilac and semi-double ; and the roots, though fleshy, 
are slender and uniform in size ; instead of being partly tuberous and partly fibrous. This species is also a 
native of Mexico, whence it was introduced in 1840. It flowers in July, and ripens abundance of seeds. Its 
culture is the same as that of the preceding species. 
6.— DAHLIA EXCELSA, Benth. THE TALL DAHLIA. 
petioles obscurely connate. Heads of florets sub-corymbose. Florets 
of the ray neuter. 
SvNONYMES. — D.gigantca, Bull. ; Tree Dahlia. 
Engravings. — Botanist, t. 88 ; and ouvjig. 3 in Plate 47. 
Specific Character. — Stem hoary, hollow. Leaves bipinn.'ite ; 
Description, &c. — The history of this species is rather remarkable. In 1830, Messrs. Loddiges, having 
received a basket of orchideous plants from Mexico, perceiving that the stakes fastened across the basket showed 
signs of life, planted them in the open ground, where they soon grew about ten feet high, but they were killed 
by the frost in winter. In 1834, a Mr. Bates introduced both roots and cuttings, and from these plants were 
raised in the Liverpool Botanic Garden, and in Skirving's nursery. In both cases, the plants have been planted 
in the free ground of a conservatory, and flowered when about twelve feet. The plant rises with an erect stem, 
generally without branches, but with widely-spreading leaves, which extend about five feet from side to side ; 
and the flowers form a kind of crown at the summit. One of the plants in the Liverpool Botanic Garden 
attained a height of twenty feet in three years ; and in its native country it becomes thirty feet high. Mr. Bates 
has specimens of both double and single flowers of this species ; but the only kind yet seen in England is 
anemone-flowered, with all the florets of the disk become semi-ligulate, and changed into the same colour as 
those of the ray. The plants have produced no seeds in England, as all their florets are neuter ; but they are 
readily propagated by cuttings. The stem is woody at the base, and marked with rings from the remains of 
fallen leaves. It is hollow, and frequently emits a number of fibrous roots. 
OTHER SPECIES OF DAHLIA. 
D. CERVANTESII, Lagasca ; GEORGINA CERVANTESII, Swl. Brit. Flow. Card., 2nd, ser. t. 22. 
Tliis species is very nearly allied to D. crocata ; but the stem is solid, very much branched, and covered 
with numerous small, glossy, light purple warts. The lower leaves are bipinnate, and the flowers are of an 
