48 
to the tuft or pompon on the soldiers’ caps. .Japanese kinds were 
brought to England by l\Ir. Fortune on his second visit to Japan, about 
the year 1859 or 18G0. The precise date is uncertain, but at least one 
variety was figured in the llutHnical Maiiatinc, in 1862, as somewhat 
of a novelty. The French and (luernsey growers soon got hold of 
them and have improved them immensely, and they are greater favourites 
with most growers than any other kinds. 
What with the Japanese and Chinese we almost forget we have 
any English chrysanthemums. Two are native of this country, the 
large ox-eye daisy, < ’hri/santliL'iiimn h’licanthriiiinn, and the corn mari¬ 
gold, ( '. urtii't 11 ) 11 . It seems a pity that some patient individuals do 
not take them in hand and cultivate and hybridise them, for it is 
possible that selection for a few years might produce grand flowers, 
when we consider what great strides have taken place in the Chinese 
wild chrysanthemums. 
Breynius, in 1689, described the chrysanthemum as 2Lat)-ic(u-ia 
jai) 0 )iira-)i)a.ri)»a, from which name we may infer that the earliest known 
kinds were large flowering, and came originally from Japan, especially 
so as he speaks of yellow, white, purple, rose and crimson varieties. 
The small yellow single < commonly cultivated in 
India, although only found wild in Corea, China, and .Japan, is the 
original wild type, from which natural variation and cultivation have 
evolved all larger growing and more highly coloured forms. All 
botanists from Linne to De C’andolle, Forbes and Hemsley, have 
considered ( indicn))) and )in))-ifoU)ni) {sinomc) as two distinct species, 
but a writer in The (rai-den says he believes in only one species, namely, 
('. indie))))) of which )n())if<)li)))j) is a geographical variety, since he 
finds that nearly every batch of seedlings revert to this primitive 
yellow-flowered type, although all sorts and sizes and colours are ob¬ 
tained from thesamecapitulum,be the seed-bearer pompons ('. indio)))). 
or )))(»-if)>li))))) {sinense). ^\’hen Japanese forms, now known to have 
originated in Japanese gardens, were introduced by ]\Ir. Fortune in 
1862, botanists wore nearly led to believe in a third species, C'.jajnmie))))), 
so different and unlike were they to those previously knoAv in Britain, 
even supposing there were originally Bvo Avild species of chrysanthe¬ 
mum in China or Corea, a vieAV from AAdiich the Avriter of the article 
aboA'e-mentioned dissents. The result, as above stated, Avould tend to 
shoAV that they must have intercrossed freely Avith each other, but all 
the obsei’A^ations go to proA'e that the AA'eedy little single yelloAv pom¬ 
pons, Avhich so often come from seed saA’ed from the finest and most 
modern floAvers of the large kinds, really imply reversion to first prin¬ 
ciples. Botanically the chrysanthemum is a glorified ox-eye daisy, 
trying hard to exalt itself from a herbaceous perennial into an ever¬ 
green shrub. 
Both the large floAvering and pompon varieties Avere largely groAvn 
and much improved up to 1862, Avhen again Mr. Fortune introduced 
a neAv strain of seA'en A'arieties from Japan. So singular AA'ere these 
in shape and colour froju all reputed standards of perfection at that 
time, that they barely escaped total neglect, and consequent extinction. 
At the present day, hoAvever, these once neglected kinds stand in the 
first rank as decorative plants, and liner and still liner varieties make 
their appearance every year, ’bhe origin of the different races is duo 
to varying degrees of development of the individual floAvers or florets. 
