1882 .] 
NEW VARIETIES OF DAHLIA GRACILIS. 
65 
NEW VARIETIES OF DAHLIA GRACILIS. 
[Plate 561.] 
TFTHE so-called single forms of the Dahlia 
(if; I which are now so popular, are amongst 
the most showy and effective of border 
^ flowers, holding a position in the 
flower-garden altogether apart from the Dahlias 
of the florist, in which latter the disk as well 
as the ray florets have been trained to develop 
a petal-like form, while in the so-called singles 
the outer row only, forming the ray, is petaloid. 
The taste which has sprung up for these Single 
Dahlias has been regarded by some persons 
as a popular craze, which it is predicted will 
subside as rapidly as it has sprung up. We see 
no reason for this catastrophe. The flowers 
in themselves are beautiful, very beautiful, 
and they appeal to a far wider constituency 
than do the Dahlias of the florist; they are 
beautiful as garden ornaments, and the popular 
verdict is but an honest recognition of that 
beauty. It must be owned there are Single 
Dahlias and Single Dahlias, and we abjure 
almost altogether the tall coarse-leaved forms 
which come from Dahlia variabilis, and give 
place and preference to the varieties of two 
species very distinct from the foregoing, namely, 
Dahlia gracilis and Dahlia coccinea, both of 
Mexican origin, both dwarfish and abundant- 
flowering, but the former being the more 
elegant of the two on account of its slender 
wiry habit of growth, its finely-divided shining 
green foliage, and its high-coloured and well- 
displayed blossoms. Those who have any 
knowledge of the neat bushy habit, narrowly- 
cut glossy leaves and brilliantly-coloured 
flower-heads of D. gracilis will agree in this 
estimate of its merits. It is of a group of 
new varieties of this species that we now 
publish portraits. 
We have elsewhere remarked that the 
varieties bred from the true D. coccinea of 
the Dot. Mag., t. 762, a rare species, introduced 
about 1802, with dark stems covered thickly 
with grey hairs not showm in the above-quoted 
figure, rank next to D. gracilis in their fitness 
for the flower-garden,' being about three feet 
in height, bushy in habit, and remarkably free- 
floweriDg. 
D. gracilis is the most recently introduced 
species, having been sent from Mexico by 
M. Roezl in 1873, and figured in the Garten- 
flora , t. 861 (1876). It is unlike all the other 
species known, in its more finely-cut foliage 
with long narrow pointed segments, which 
gives it a remarkably neat appearance, its 
elegant effect being enhanced by the abundant 
display of flower-heads on slender wiry stalks 
elevated just above the dense mass of foliage. 
The flower-heads have a single series of ray 
florets of a bright orange-scarlet colour, and 
measure about 21 inches in diameter. 
Dahlia gracilis superba (fig. 1) is a very 
fine variety, and well proved for its constancy 
of character. It is of a dense slender twiggy 
habit of growth, being copiously furnished 
with thin glabrous stems and branches, well 
clothed wfith bipinnate leaves, of which the 
rachis is wingless, and the leaflets narrow long 
pointed and toothed ; its flower-heads measure 
about three inches across, and the colour 
is a deep rich intense crimson scarlet. The 
flower-heads being well-displayed just above 
the mass of elegant foliage, are very beautiful, 
and w 7 e have no hesitation in saying it is 
much the best variety of this Dahlia which 
we have yet seen, though they are all beau¬ 
tiful, and make charming border flowers. 
D. gracilis cuprea (fig. 2) is also a free- 
blooming variety, w 7 ith flowers rather smaller 
than those of gracilis superba ; and the florets 
are of a pale coppery red, somewhat darker 
around the disk. It is very effective in con¬ 
trast with the other forms. 
D. gracilis lute a (fig. 3) is very dwarf 
and dense in habit, and produces abundantly 
its flower-heads of a pale chrome-yellow colour, 
which are both showy and effective. 
Other varieties w 7 hich can be recommended, 
and which together make a pleasing and inte¬ 
resting series, are:— D. gracilisfulgens, which 
most nearly resembles D. gracilis superba, being 
equally free-blooming and brilliant, the flower- 
heads being of a blight crimson scarlet, but 
some shades paler than in that variety ; D. 
gracilis ignea, which has still more narrowly 
cut leaves, less distinctly serrated, and the 
florets are of a brilliant fiery orange scarlet. 
The foregoing w 7 ere all raised in the Chelsea 
Botanic Garden in 1879, and consequently 
their profuse blooming qualities, aud their 
great decorative value have been well tested. 
—T. Moore. 
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