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ON THE CROSSING OF ‘ANTHURIUM SCHERZERIANUM.’ 
ON THE CROSSING OF ‘ANTHURIUM SCHERZERIANUM.’ 
By Monsieur Duvat. 
‘Iv may be said, without fear of contradiction, that the beautiful 
‘varieties of ‘ Anthurium Scherzerianum,’ which are so justly admired at 
‘the present day, are entirely the work of horticulturists. 
Indeed, there has been no intervention whatsoever at any time of any 
more or less perfect species or variety to contribute towards improving 
the type, introduced about the year 1860 by Scherzer, and of which J 
am still in possession of an authentic specimen. 
With the exception of the Anthurium Scherzerianum with white 
‘spathes, known under the name of ‘ Williamsii,’ and which, it is stated, 
was used to fertilise the red variety which produced Anthurium Roth- 
schildianum, I do not see that the raisers have had any elements other 
than those of which I am going to speak. 
If there have been (which is possible) better and worse varieties 
imported, they have all, at all events, been greatly improved by repeated 
sowings and careful selection. Messrs. Veitch, Van Houtte, Linden, 
Bergmann, Bleu, and more especially Bertrand, an amateur of Queue-en- 
Brie, Seine-et-Marne, have largely contributed towards improving and 
‘perfecting Anthurium Scherzerianum; and so at a later date have 
Messrs. De la Devansaye and Truffaut in France, De Smet Duvivier in 
Belgium, and lastly myself, my attempts dating back to 1882. 
It is but very gradually that one can succeed in changing the form of 
Anthurium Scherzerianum when one possesses only such very limited 
resources. It is difficult to get the first ‘break,’ and it is only by dint 
-of perseverance and proper selection that one can materially alter these 
plants, ae. give them beautiful foliage and fine, brilliantly coloured 
spathes, possessing the property of lasting well. 
What did we possess in 1882 in order to work on the Anthuriums 
with red spathes? A fine variety sent out by Messrs. Veitch under the 
name of Anthurium Scherzerianum Wardianum, and subsequently a 
white-spathed variety named ‘ Williamsii.’ 
I purchased an Anthurium Scherzianum Wardianum, and it 1s by 
means of the pollen of this plant and a few specimens picked up at the 
late M. Bertrand’s sale that I began to hybridise and make sowings. I 
was fortunate at the commencement, for in 1891 I sold to M. Auguste 
Van Geert a splendid variety, under the name of ‘President Carnot,’ 
which has never been surpassed for the size and beauty of its foliage 
‘and whose dark cerise-coloured spathes are almost round. 
But in 1889 I previously showed some Anthuriums, with blood red 
and violet red spathes, of which one plant, ‘Sang Gaulois,’ was to become 
the departure of a whole series of very dark varieties, with spathes of 
excellent form. 
I then fertilised the plant ‘President Carnot’ with a white 
Anthurium, and I had the satisfaction of raising a plant which we 
named ‘La France.’ The spathe of this variety is dark red underneath 
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