from Addisonia : colored illustrations and popular descriptions of plants V.6 (1921)
DAHLIA “AMI NONIN” “Ami Nonin” Dahlia
Garden Hybrid Family Carduaceae Thistle Family
The French variety “Ami Nonin” is an attractive and desirable representative of the class of dahlias known as “collarettes.” In the “collarette”* group, the flower-head, according to the definition of the American Dahlia Society, is of the “single” type, having “not more than nine floral rays with one or more smaller rays, usually of a different color, from the heart of each ray floret, making a collar about the disk.”
Priority in the matter of developing the first modern collarette dahlia probably belongs to M. Gerbeaux of Nancy, France, who introduced the “Gloire de Nancy” in 1898 (Revue Horticole 76: 64. 1904). Later and better varieties and those most often credi- ted with priority were the ” President Viger” and “Joseph Goujon,” which were originated in Lyon, France, in the season of 1900. The better of these, “President Viger,” was advertised in the 1901 cata- logue of Ri voire, Pere et Fils, of Lyon, for distribution in 1902. A flower-head of the same general style seems to have been devel- oped by H. Cannell & Sons of England in 1901 (Gard. Chron. Ill 30: 153. 1901). ” President Viger” reached England in 1902 and seed at least of the “Dahlia a collerette” was offered in American catalogues as early as 1903 (Peter Henderson & Co.). Other varie- ties of the same general character soon followed. They were recommended as more endiu-ing for cut flowers than varieties of the simpler single-flowered type and most of them have justified this claim. The later varieties have shown many attractive combina- tions of color and those in which the color of the narrower smaller rays of the collar is in pleasing contrast to that of the larger outer rays have been especially popular. As in most of the other groups of dahlias, some of the varieties are naturally short in habit of growth, others tall, and others of medium growth, and some are naturally floriferous, while others are less so. Among the best and most popular varieties of the collarette type in cultivation at the present time may be mentioned Mme. E- Poirier, Maurice Rivoire, G6ant de Lyon, Holyrood, and John Bull, to which may be added three excellent varieties of American origin. Achievement (Alexan- der), San Mateo Star (Bessie Boston), and The Peach (Stillman).
* Some of the English and a very few of the American dahlia-growers have preferred to retain the French orthography ” collerette.” The usual French name for the group is ” Dahlias k collerette ” or ” Dahlias simples 4 collerette.”
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