So here we have the aster. or, as this set is in French L`Aster. And as to why, well this is the birth flower for the month of September, but there is a twist, because the aster is part of a huge family called Asteracae, and when I say huge, I mean it, for even in its reduced modern form there are almost two hundred species.
This set was issued in Mauritius, hence the French language text. And it is not the only garden related set they did, for they also issued a set of "Cacti", in the same year too.
The title is a curious one, for it directly translates as Flowers of Cultivation. I am not sure if this means specially bred, like what gardeners refer to as a cultivar, which is a gardening term for a variety which does not appear naturally in the wild, but was produced by a breeder who selected plants for their brighter, or lighter colour, or other suddenly appearing factors that they much liked.
Now this set, like all those issued with the Domino Filters, arrived on the scene just a bit too late to be included in our original World Tobacco Issues Index. They do appear in the modern version though, under British American Tobacco section 2 - Issues quoting brand names - and sub section J - which is headed as "Domino Filter" French language brand issues, without name of firm ["firm" being British American Tobacco], in Mauritius. 1960-65". And the description of our set is : "FLEURS DE CULTURE. Sm. Nd. (25)"
And now, in a surprising twist, I have a bit of a discovery for you, and that is that this set was not unique to B.A.T. Domino Filters - though there is not a word of this connection in the World Tobacco Issues Index. This discovery arose when I was looking at other cards of asters in order to link to them and spotted this very card, but issued by Wilcocks and Wilcocks. Now today I had a bit more time so I had a look in the British Trade Index to see if any other issuers also did this set - and they did. The list appears in our British Trade Index part 2 under D-294 and in our updated British Trade Handbook as HX-46. Both lists are the same though, so no new issuers were reported in between the two volumes. To save you looking, the full list is :
Tobacco : titled "Fleurs de Cultur"
"Domino Filters" (B.A.T) - 1961
Trade : all titled "Garden Flowers"
Badshah Tea Co., London - 1963
Browne Bros Ltd, Southend on Sea (tea) - 1965
H.E. Empson & Son Ltd., Birmingham (tea) - 1964 or 1966
Golden Grain Tea - issued in 1964, 1965, or 1971 - I cannot trace anything about Golden Grain tea, and no address or company appears on their cards.
Wilcocks and Wilcocks, 37 Commercial Road, Exeter (tea) - issued in 1964 - whose cards advertise "`Wilco`, `Garden & Estate` and `Housewife`s Choice` teas.
The confusion over the double dates will almost certainly be sorted out when I hunt through the New Issues columns.