It is a plant of strong growth; the stem rising to the height of two or three feet, somewhat woody, much branched, beset with numerous leaves, having some resemblance to those of Mugwort, of a greyish hue; the flowers, on being smelt to, discover an agreeable fragrance, they are produced on the summits of the branches in a loose sort of cluster (those which terminate the main stem, grow to the size of a large carnation) of a dark purple colour; they are, it is to be observed, double, or rather between semidouble and double; the florets of the radius at first perfectly tubular or quilled, as they advance split gradually downward on the inside, their outside is of a greyish tint, which being visible in most of the florets, especially the younger ones, gives them a particoloured appearance; these florets do not so completely occupy the receptacle but that room is left for a few others in the centre, of a different form, and yellow colour, which, on examination, appear to have their parts perfect, as indeed do those of the radius; the receptacle is beset with membranous paleæ or chaffy scales, a circumstance which would lead us to consider this plant rather as an _Anthemis_ than a _Chrysanthemum_, of which it has the calyx, with the foliage of _Mugwort_. New as this plant is to us, it appears to have been cultivated in China for ages: LINNÆUS, who describes it in his _Species Plantar._ refers us to a figure in the _Hortus Malabaricus_; this figure, and the description accompanying it, agree generally with our plant, but the flowers are more double, much smaller, less clustered, and do not correspond in point of colour, yet there can be no doubt but our plant is a variety of the same; it is there described as growing in sandy situations, and having green petals. RUMPHIUS, in his highly interesting work, the _Herbarium Amboinense_ is much more minute in his information; he observes, that these plants were originally brought from China, where they flower in May and June; that there are two sorts principally cultivated in India, the white and yellow-flowered, and a third sort, differing only in the colour of its flowers which are red (the variety, as we suppose, here figured) began to be known among them at Amboyna; the flowers there do not expand well, owing to their being produced at the rainy season, and they decay without producing any seed.