Dean's History of the Dahlia (1913)

This article is adapted from the book The Dahlias: Its History and Cultivation by Richard Dean, Robert Fife, John Ballantyne, Stephen Jones, William Cuthbertson, and Leonard Baron. It was published in 1903 by Macmillan Company in London and New York. 

Although the original work is in the public domain, this article has been edited for the modern reader and contains new material. 

This version is Copyright © 2024 by Steve K. Lloyd and may not be reproduced without permission.

History of the Dahlia

By Richard Dean (1903)

Edited with revisions by Steve K. Lloyd © 2024

Dahlia variabilis, a very variable species—hence its name—is the one commonly believed to have been the first introduced to this country. It is a native of Mexico and Central America. It received its generic name after Dr. Dahl, a Swedish botanist and pupil of Linnaeus. A competing name, "Georgina," ran "Dahlia" a race for some time. As so late as 1832 it can be found in an Index to London's Gardeners' Magazine.

The earliest known description of the Dahlia is that of Francesco Hernandez, physician to Philip II. of Spain. He wrote four books on the plants and animals of New Spain. In one of these books appears an illustration of D. variabilis. 

For a space of 130 years, the Dahlia seems to have been lost to writers until 1787, when a Frenchman named Nicholas Joseph Thierry de Menonville was sent to America to secure the cochineal insect. In that year he published a treatise in which he described the Dahlias he had seen in a garden near Guaxaca:

In 1802 an English nurseryman, John Eraser, of Sloane Square, a collector of American plants, obtained some seeds of Dahlia coccinea from Paris. These plants flowered in a greenhouse in 1803 at his nursery, and supplied a subject for a plate in the Botanical Magazine, which secured the plant a proper place in the English Garden.

In 1804 Lady Holland, who was then at Madrid, sent home seeds, it is believed, to Holland House, Kensington, where plants were raised and bloomed. When they were in flower, her husband, Lord Holland, wrote to his wife as follows:

Mr. George Nicholson, in his Dictionary of Gardening, informs us that the plants raised in Holland House in 1804 were lost, and that a third stock was brought from France in 1815. These flowers were probably showing signs of doubling, as at this time double Dahlias began to appear. 

From this time the history of the flower rises to a kind of stately march. It acquired extensive popularity, and Dahlia exhibitions were held in many parts of the country.

In the third volume of the Transactions of the Royal Horticultural Society it is stated that:

The first double or semi-double flowers were obtained about the year 1814 by M. Donkelaar of the Botanic Gardens, Louvain. From three plants which bore double flowers, many varieties were raised and were imported into this country during the winter of that year.

From 1815 and onwards great activity was shown in raising new varieties, and though the single type found some favor with raisers and growers, earnest efforts were put forth to develop the finest double flowers until the forerunners of the present superb types were reached.

By the florist, Dahlias are divided into several sections: Show, Fancy, Pompon or Bouquet, Cactus or Decorative, and Single. The two former run so closely the one into the other, and the distinction between them is so artificial, that they are now practically fused into one, though in catalogs the varieties are still ranged under the heads of Show and Fancy.

THE SHOW DAHLIA

This section comprises all self-coloured and all shaded flowers, such as the Prince of Denmark, which has a maroon — almost a black — shading thrown over a deep wine crimson ground; and all flowers having petals of a pale ground color, edged with pink, rose, mauve, purple, crimson, maroon, etc. J. T. West and Miss Cannell may be cited as typical varieties.

THE FANCY DAHLIA

This is simply the large rounded Show or Exhibition Dahlia in a later form of development. The reason why the two sections were divided is found in the fact that the Fancy type was later to appear, and for a number of years its varieties were inferior both in size and in outline to those of the Show type. 

The first Fancy Dahlias appear to have originated with Count Lelieur of Paris. He succeeded in raising some striped and shaded single flowers, and from these, it is believed, the present race of Fancy Dahlias has descended. Of this we may be certain — that the earliest forms of the Fancy Dahlia came from the Continent.

Two or more colors are necessary to a Fancy Dahlia. There are striped and there are tipped varieties, but the latter are occasionally striped also. In the case of the edged Show Dahlia, the color on the petal edges is always darker than the ground. In the Fancy Dahlia the reverse holds good. 

Thus, a white, yellow, or any pale ground flower, edged or laced with a dark color, after the manner of the Picotee, is simply an edged or laced Show Dahlia. But when the disposition of these colors is reversed, — when the petals of a dark or yellow ground flower are tipped with a light color, as, for instance, Mrs. Saunders, which is yellow tipped with white, or Peacock, which is crimson tipped with white — the variety is regarded as a Fancy Dahlia. 

When the ground color is light, with a dark edging, as in the case of Miss Cannell, it is a Show Dahlia. Striped flowers, no matter what the ground color may be, are always Fancy Dahlias. 

All the best Fancy Dahlias produced within the last twenty years have been of English origin. It is the custom at some small country flower-shows to admit all tipped and edged Dahlias as Fancy Dahlias. But invariably, this is permitted by judges who are imperfectly acquainted with the technical distinction between the two types.

THE POMPON OR BOUQUET DAHLIA

This type, of which we have so many beautiful varieties in the present day, is of German origin, and dates from about 1808, when Hartwig of Karlsruhe obtained a double variety from the single scarlet Dahlia coccinea. 

The Germans favored this small form, which obtained the name of Liliputian, on account of the small size of the flowers, and not because of its dwarf growth, for the first varieties obtained from it introduced to this country were of very tall habit. 

Hence the Pompon varieties have been known as German Dahlias. Our English florists, especially of late years, have greatly improved this type in the newer varieties. They are now of dwarf and compact growth, singularly free of bloom, admirably adapted for adorning the flower garden, and invaluable for all decorative purposes.

THE CACTUS DAHLIA

This singularly novel type put in an appearance in England in 1880. Its history and introduction to this country can be stated in a few words. 

In the year 1872, Mr. J. T. Vander Burg, of Juxphaar, near Utrecht, Holland, received a box of flowers from Mexico. By reason of delays in the transit, the contents were for the most part found on arrival to be rotten. All that had roots, or seeds apparently possessing vitality, were sown.

Among those which grew, was one which produced a small tuberous root, and it eventually proved to be the Cactus Dahlia. It was subsequently named Dahlia Juarezi, after Juarez, a President of the Republic of Mexico.

By 1874, a good stock of plants had been obtained, and it eventually passed into the hands of Messrs. Anthony Eoozen and Sons, a firm of Dutch nurserymen. Plants of this Dahlia were obtained by the late Mr. W. H. Cullingford, and from him it passed into the hands of Mr. Henry Cannell of Swanley, by whom it was exhibited for the first time at the Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill, on the 3rd of September 1880.

Immediately after, at one of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society. It was at once seen that there were possibilities of development in this interesting stranger. 

New forms soon began to appear, and at the present time there are many superb varieties of a number of shades and combinations of color, but all exhibiting the shape of the original introduction, which obtained the name of Cactus from its resemblance in color to the vermilion of Cereus speciosissimus — the Showy Cactus — a designation which was at once adopted and is now universally recognised. 

The habit of growth is undergoing considerable improvement, and many of the newer sorts are admirably adapted for garden decoration.

THE DECORATIVE DAHLIA

These may be regarded as intermediate forms of the Show Dahlia, brought into notice by the introduction of the Cactus type. Few of them have any pretensions to the true Cactus character, and with the wonderful improvement seen in the latter, many will soon go out of cultivation. They certainly furthered the employment of the Dahlia as a decorative plant in our gardens, the freedom of bloom of some of the varieties being their chief recommendation. In America Decorative Dahlias are most popular at the present time.

THE SINGLE DAHLIA

The reintroduction to popular notice of this type dates from 1880, when Mr. Alfred Salter brought to one of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society flowers of the Single Dahlia coccinea. Almost simultaneously appeared D. lutea, yellow, and an old variety named Paragon. 

From these, seeds were obtained. The Single Dahlia became immensely popular, and a great number of varieties were obtained and are still being raised, including some charming striped and tipped varieties known as fancy Single Dahlias. Their fugacious character militates against the use of the flowers for decorative purposes.

THE SINGLE CACTUS DAHLIA

This is of comparatively recent development, but for all kinds of decorative work it has an important future before it. The first varieties were raised by the late Mr. E. J. Lowe, F.E.S., and passed into the hands of Messrs. Dobbie and Co., Kothesay, in the year 1891. 

Since then the type has been undergoing rapid improvement, and when better known its value will be widely recognised for every purpose for which cut flowers are required. A more graceful flower for dinner-table and other decorations, it is hardly possible to conceive than the Single Cactus Dahlia.

POMPON CACTUS DAHLIAS

A group of dwarf, free-blooming, small-flowered varieties is being produced, which promises to be valuable for market and decorative purposes. The large blooms of the exhibition varieties, often on weak stems, and are found unsuitable for employment in such ways.

TOM THUMB DAHLIA

This is a miniature race of round-flowered Single Dahlias raised by the late Mr. T. W. Girdlestone, M.A., and introduced by Messrs. Cheal and Sons some years ago. They grow from twelve to eighteen inches high, and have proved of great value in the flower garden, forming dense bushes, and blooming with remarkable freedom.

QUILLED OR ANEMONE-FLOWERED DAHLIAS

During the past two years the Continental florists have sent to this country representatives of a race of dwarf-growing dahlias, having flowers with a circle or two of ray florets and the center a cushion of quilled florets resembling a quilled aster or an anemone flowered Pompon Chrysanthemum. They need some improvement if they are to become popular.

THE COLLARETTE DAHLIAS

This is a type of Single Dahlia having, issuing from the yellow disc (which is in the center of the flower) a circle of small white or primrose-coloured short florets. 

Two varieties have been sent from the Continent: President Viger, crimson with a white collar, and Joseph Gougon, reddish orange with a collar of orange florets. They are very free-blooming and produce their flowers on long stems thrown well above the foliage.