Spanish Hidalgos reported finding the plants growing in Mexico in 1525, but the earliest known description is by Francisco Hernández, physician to Philip II, who was ordered to visit Mexico in 1570 to study the "natural products of that country". They were used for a food source by the indigenous peoples, and were both gathered in the wild and cultivated. The Aztecs used them to treat epilepsy,and employed the long hollow stem of the (Dahlia imperalis) for water pipes.
Today the dahlia is still considered one of the native ingredients in Oaxacan cuisine; several cultivars are still raised especially for their large, sweet potato-like tubers. Dacopa, an intense mocha-tasting extract from the roasted tubers, is used to flavor beverages throughout Central America
In Europe and America, prior to the discovery of insulin in 1923, diabetics- as well as consumptives - were often given a substance called Atlantic starch or diabetic sugar, derived from inulin, a naturally occurring form of fruit sugar, extracted from dahlia tubers. Inulin is still used in clinical tests for kidney functionality.
In 1846 the Caledonia Horticultural Society of Edinburgh, offered a prize of 2,000 pounds to the first person producing a blue dahlia.The colour has never been produced, except in digitally enhanced photo's .....
I love the huge blousey flowers in autumn, but they are a bit of a bind to grow... Cultivation instructions
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