Red dahlia

The wild ancestor of garden dahlias – the Aztecs ate its tubers, and today the dahlia is Mexico’s national flower.

A perennial growing to 1–3 m, with tuberous roots and single flower heads in shades of scarlet, orange or yellow. It grows wild on slopes, in open pine–oak woods and in mountain meadows, from northern Mexico to Guatemala. Together with Dahlia pinnata it is one of the main ancestors of the thousands of garden cultivars that have conquered European gardens since the late 18th century. The Aztecs called dahlias “acocoxóchitl” and used their edible tubers and hollow stems.

Significance in the country

In 1963 the dahlia was declared Mexico’s national flower as a plant native to the country and part of its culture since pre-Columbian times. Mexico is the centre of diversity of the genus – most wild dahlia species grow here.

Where it grows

Mountains and uplands – the Sierra Madre Occidental, Oriental and del Sur and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, from Sonora and Chihuahua to Oaxaca and Chiapas.

More: Wikipedia (en)