Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1884 — The Nativity of Flowers. [ARTICLE]

The Nativity of Flowers.

But few persons are aware that the dozen or more plants growing in their flower beds are probably representatives of as many different parts of the globe. Some of the worst used and most neglected of our flowers have the most interesting histories, and have traveled farthest from their native soil. For instance, the campanula Carpathia, or Canterbury bell, grows spontaneously on the slopes of the Carpathian Alps, travelers are surprised to find patches of it growing rankly in almost inaccessible spots. From the Bulgarian Mountains comes the Pentagonia, a rich purple variety of this family. The Tagetes, or common marigold, has a most interesting history. Tageti, a Spanish botanist, found it upon the table lands of Peru. He carried the seed to Europe, where the plant became valued for its medical properties. The removal from a tropical to a temperate region developed some eccentricities; the plant produced double instead of single flowers. And after a second removal to Africa, its deep golden yellow changed to a lighter hue. French florists observed its susceptibility to variation, and by selection soon produced the variegated bloom. The marigold came to us from Africa and France. The little sweet mignonette is a native of Barbary; the niggela, or Johnny in the green, comes from Palestine and Spain; the amaranthus is from the East Indies, and the larkspur from Siberia; candy-tuft is indigenous to the Isle of Crete, and is said to be propagated there for sheep pasture; the aster was discovered in China; and soon through a long list of our most common flowering plants. The subject of the nativity of plants is almost exhaustless, and is extremely interesting and profitable.— Indiana Farmer.