A Bite of Dahlia Folklore

Photo of a Pompon Dahlia from simplysage.com

Stories of dahlias have been told and retold at least since the plants were introduced to the Spanish by the Aztecs.  A few of these stories will be explored in this post, where I will cover the folklore of the dahlia being used as food, medicine, and even as Aztec water pipes. 

The Dahlia As Food

An anecdote commonly brought up in dahlia literature is that the tubers were used as important food crops by the Aztecs and again later by the Europeans, particularly the French.  The tubers contain high amounts of starch and it was hoped they would be an excellent food source for man and cattle.  Scholars, however, have pointed out that the most important food crops for Aztecs were maize, beans, corn, and squash; not dahlias.  As for the Europeans, they gave it a good try, but ultimately gave it up as it was unpalatable.  There are modern reports of Native peoples in Mexico, such as the Tarahumara Indians, digging the tubers of D. sherffii from the hills to eat as a quick snack.

The Dahlia As Medicine

The Aztec people were said to use the dahlia to treat skin complaints.  The Aztecs had developed many effective plant-based treatments, as is evidenced by the Badianus Manuscript mentioned in my earlier post on the history of dahlias.  It is curious then that the dahlia did not explode in popularity upon arrival in Europe due to its healing qualities. If the dahlia did indeed have medicinal qualities, it would have been used by the Europeans for that purpose.  However, there is anecdotal evidence that the dahlia is used today in Mexico as a folk remedy.  Apparently, a dahlia petal poultice will sooth bug bites and stings, sunburn, and sores, especially if made from the petals of D. imperialis. Tired feet? Make a foot soak by boiling the tubers and petals.  For a time the dahlia was considered as a promising source of inulin, a type of fruit sugar that was a precursor to synthetic insulin for the treatment of diabetes.  One of the past presidents of the American Dahlia Society, Richard Vincent, tried mightily to push the dahlia for this purpose, but it never took off.

The Dahlia as Water Pipes

There is a story going around that dahlias, which have hollow stalks, were used by the Aztec peoples for irrigation pipes in their sophisticated gardens. While it is exciting to entertain the thought, as someone who has worked with dahlias, I cannot imagine the stalks holding water long enough before decaying to be of any significant use to the Aztecs in this capacity.  It is thought that this story emerged from the misinterpretation of the Nahuatl word ‘acocotl’ meaning “water pipe plant”.  The word has also often been ascribed to dahlias, thus perpetuating the notion that the stalks were used as irrigation pipes.

Illustration of an Aztec Garden (Kral).

The folklore presented in this post represents just a small portion of the written and oral stories available about dahlias.  They have a rich history, beginning with a humble desert native growing in the hills of Mexico to what it is today, the king of the garden.

Citations:

Kral, Martin. "Of Dahlia Myths and Aztec Mythology."  Dahlia, https://dahlia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dahlia-Myths-Part-1.pdf.  Accessed 22 April, 2023.

Rhys, Dani. "Dahlia-Meaning and Symbolism."  SymbolSage, https://symbolsage.com/dahlia-flower-meaning/.  Accessed 22 April, 2023.  

"The Story of the Dahlia."  SurreyFarms, https://surreyfarms.net/2016/07/07/the-story-of-the-dahlia/amp/.  Accessed 23 April, 2023.