Editing Dahlia (section)

=== Taxonomic history ===

==== Early history ====
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| alt1              = Dahlia
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| alt2              = Orange Dahlia
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Spaniards reported finding the plants growing in Mexico in 1525, but the earliest known description is by [[Francisco Hernández de Toledo|Francisco Hernández]], physician to [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], who was ordered to visit Mexico in 1570 to study the "natural products of that country". They were used as a source of food by the indigenous peoples, who both gathered wild specimens and cultivated crops.<ref name=":0">[http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1705.pdf Harvard Arboretum]</ref><ref name="autogenerated2002">Katz, Solomon H.; Weaver, William Woys Weaver, Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, The Gale Group, New York, 2002.</ref> The indigenous peoples variously identified the plants as "Chichipatl" ([[Toltecs]]) and "Acocotle" or "Cocoxochitl" ([[Aztecs]]). From Hernandez's perception of [[Nahuatl]] to [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (through various other translations) the word is "water cane", "water pipe", "water pipe flower", "hollow stem flower", or "cane flower", all referring to the hollow plant stems.<ref>Safford, W.E., "Notes on Dahlias", Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 1919.</ref>

Hernandez described two varieties of dahlias (the pinwheel-like ''[[Dahlia pinnata]]'' and the huge ''Dahlia imperialis'') as well as other medicinal plants of New Spain. Francisco Dominguez, an Hidalgo gentleman who accompanied Hernandez on part of his seven-year study, made a series of drawings to supplement the four volume report. Three of his drawings showed plants with flowers: two resembled the modern bedding dahlia, and one resembled the species ''[[Dahlia merckii]]''; all displayed a high degree of doubleness.<ref>Hernandez, Francisco, Nova Plantarum Animalum et Mineralium Historia. Pg. 31-32,372. 1651.</ref> In 1578, a manuscript titled ''Nova Plantarum, Animalium et Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia'', was sent back to the [[Escorial]] in Madrid.<ref>Hernández, ''Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus'' (Rome, 1651); details of the introduction of the dahlia to European gardens are taken from {{Harvtxt|Harshberger|1897}}</ref> It was translated into Latin by Francisco Ximenes in 1615. In 1640, Francisco Cesi, President of the ''Academia dei Lincei'' of Rome, bought the Ximenes translation and, after annotating it, published it in 1649–1651 as two volumes, ''Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus Seu Nova Plantarium, Animalium et Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia''. The original manuscripts were destroyed in a fire in the mid-1600s.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Baltet | first1 = Charles | year = 1906 | title = Comment le Dahlia est arrive du Mexique en Europe | journal = Revue Horticole | volume = 78 | pages = 209–212 }}</ref>

====European introduction====
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 | image1 = Scarlet-flowered dahlia.jpg
 | alt1 = Dahlia coccinea
 | caption1 = ''Dahlia coccinea'', parent of European "single" dahlias (i.e., displaying a single row of ligulate florets)

 | image2 = Dahlia sambucifolia 1805.png
 | alt2 = Dahlia sambucifolia
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In 1787, the French botanist [[Nicolas-Joseph Thiéry de Menonville]], sent to Mexico to steal the [[cochineal]] insect valued for its scarlet dye, reported the strangely beautiful flowers he had seen growing in a garden in Oaxaca.<ref>Menonville, ''Traité de la culture du nopal et de l'education de la cochenille dans les colonies françaises de l'Amérique'' 1787.</ref> In 1789, [[Vicente Cervantes]], director of the Botanical Garden at Mexico City, sent "plant parts" to Abbe [[Antonio José Cavanilles]], director of the [[Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid|Royal Gardens of Madrid]].<ref>From the director, Sr. Vicentes Cervantes, according to Augustin Legrand and Pierre-Denis Pépin, ''Manuel du cultivateur de dahlias'', "Introduction en Europe", Paris, 1848, p. 10.</ref> Cavanilles flowered one plant that same year, then the second one a year later. In 1791 he called the new growths "Dahlia" for [[Anders Dahl]].<ref name=Cavanilles/> The first plant was called ''Dahlia pinnata'' after its [[pinnate]] foliage; the second, ''Dahlia rosea'' for its rose-purple color. In 1796, from the parts sent by Cervantes, Cavanilles flowered a third plant, which he named ''[[Dahlia coccinea]]'' for its scarlet color.

In 1798, Cavanilles sent ''D.&nbsp;pinnata'' seeds to [[Parma]], Italy. That year, the Marchioness of Bute, wife of [[John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute|the Earl of Bute]], the English Ambassador to Spain, obtained a few seeds from Cavanilles and sent them to [[Kew Gardens]], where they flowered but were lost after two to three years.<ref name="autogenerated5">Dean, Richard, The dahlia: its history and cultivation, Macmillan, 1897, p.5.</ref>

[[File:Holland House in 1907 by J. Benjamin Stone - Dahlia Garden.jpg|thumb|right|The Dahlia Garden at Holland House in 1907]]
In the following years Madrid sent seeds to Berlin and Dresden in Germany, and to Turin and Thiene in Italy. In 1802, Cavanilles sent tubers of "these three" (''D.&nbsp;pinnata, D.&nbsp;rosea, D.&nbsp;coccinea'') to Swiss botanist [[Augustin Pyramus de Candolle]] at University of Montpelier in France, [[Andre Thouin]] at the [[Jardin des Plantes]] in Paris and Scottish botanist [[William Aiton]] at Kew Gardens.{{sfn|Weland|2015|loc=p.&nbsp;8}} That same year, John Fraser, English nurseryman and later botanical collector to the Czar of Russia, brought ''[[D. coccinea|D.&nbsp;coccinea]]'' seeds from Paris to the [[Chelsea Physic Garden|Apothecaries Gardens]] in England, where they flowered in his greenhouse a year later, providing ''Botanical Magazine'' with an illustration.
In 1804, a new species, ''Dahlia sambucifolia'', was successfully grown at [[Holland House, London|Holland House]], Kensington. Whilst in Madrid in 1804, [[Elizabeth Fox, Baroness Holland|Lady Holland]] was given either dahlia seeds or tubers by Cavanilles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Forbes|first=James|author2=John Russell Bedford|title=Hortus woburnensis|publisher=J. Ridgway|year=1833|page=[https://archive.org/details/hortuswoburnens00forbgoog/page/n282 246]|url=https://archive.org/details/hortuswoburnens00forbgoog}}</ref> She sent them back to England, to Lord Holland's librarian at Holland House, who successfully raised the plants<ref>{{cite book|last=Hogg|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Hogg (biologist)|title=The Dahlia; Its History and Cultivation|publisher=Groombidge and Sons|year=1853|page=[https://archive.org/details/dahliaitshistor00hogggoog/page/n34 5]|url=https://archive.org/details/dahliaitshistor00hogggoog}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London|date=1808-04-05|volume=1|page=93|location=London|publisher=W. Bulmer & Co.|title=Observations on the different Species of Dahlia, and the best Method of Cultivating them in Britain.|last=Salisbury|first=R. A.}}</ref> and produced two double flowers a year later.{{sfn|Weland|2015|loc=p.&nbsp;2}} The plants raised in 1804 did not survive; new stock was brought from France in 1815.<ref name="autogenerated5"/> In 1824, Lord Holland sent his wife a note containing the following verse:<blockquote>The dahlia you brought to our isle<br />
Your praises for ever shall speak;<br />
Mid gardens as sweet as your smile,<br />
And in colour as bright as your cheek.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Bobby J.|title=A Contemplation Upon Flowers|publisher=Timber Press|year=1999|page=119|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3MgSchHBjYC|isbn=978-0-88192-469-5}}
</ref></blockquote>

In 1805, German naturalist [[Alexander von Humboldt]] sent more seeds from Mexico to Aiton in England, Thouin in Paris, and [[Christoph Friedrich Otto]], director of the [[Berlin Botanical Garden]]. More significantly, he sent seeds to botanist [[Carl Ludwig Willdenow]] in Germany. Willdenow now reclassified the rapidly growing number of species, changing the genus from ''Dahlia'' to ''Georgina''; after naturalist [[Johann Gottlieb Georgi]]. He combined the Cavanilles species ''D.&nbsp;pinnata'' and ''D.&nbsp;rosea'' under the name of ''Georgina variabilis''; ''D.&nbsp;coccinea'' was still held to be a separate species, which he renamed ''Georgina coccinea''.