Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1903 — The Dahlia In England. [ARTICLE]

The Dahlia In England.

The dahlia has become popular among English gkrdenerh. In the wild plant the flowers are single, with a dull ray and yellow disk. The varieties of the cultivated forms are almost eudlesft The original was discovered in Mexico by Vincent Cervantes about 1784 and was first brought to the botauic gardens of Madrid, and the same year it was introduced into England by the then Marchioness of Bute. The plant became extinct in Britain. It was again brought there in 1804, and in that year is found the earliest mention of the dahlia, named from Andrew Dahl, a Swedish botanist and pupil of Linnseus. In Mexico the tubers are cultivated as food on account of the quantity of inulln they contain, but in Europe, though many times tried, they never became popular. -