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Cornell Extension Bulletin q 



amateurs. Before that time it does not appear to have received general 

 attention or to have been an important plant in the seed or nursery trade. 

 In the following table the names of varieties of gladioli are given, with 

 their prices, as taken from advertisements of Messrs. T. & C. Lockhart, 

 156 Cheapside, London. The table shows the varieties cultivated in 

 England prior to the introduction of G. gandavensis. 



At this time came the real starting point of the modern garden gladiolus, 

 in G. gandavensis, sent out by Louis van Houtte in 1841. This gladiolus 

 originated with M. Beddinghaus, gardener to the Due d'Aremberg, who 

 decided to produce hybrids between G. psittacimis, G. floribundus, G. 

 ramosus, and G. cardinalis, all of them tall, showy species. He obtained 

 seed in 1837, and in 1839 and 1840 he exhibited his seedlings in flower 

 at Enghien. A seedling, a hybrid between G. psittacinus {G. natalensis 

 Reinw.) and G. cardinalis, was admired by those who saw it. M. Van 

 Houtte purchased it and introduced it through the medium of his catalog. 

 Later he published a color plate of it in his Flore des Serres, with the follow- 

 ing description by Lemaire (1846 b) : " Le Gladiolus gandavensis a le port 

 et I'inflorescence du G. natalensis, mais dans des proportions plus grandes, 

 le coloris du G. cardinalis, mais plus riche et plus varie." 



