94 



Cornell Extension Bulletin 9 



BOTANY OF THE GLADIOLUS 



The gladioli are cormaceous plants belonging to the family Iridaceae, 

 which embraces more than thirty genera of ornamental plants in American 

 culture, including Crocus, Ixia, Freesia, and Iris. Crocus and Iris are 

 distinguished at once from Gladiolus, Ixia, and Freesia by the fact that 

 they normally have more than one flower to a spathe. Ixia has equilateral 

 stamens and a regular perianth, while in Freesia, Lapeyrousia, and 



Watsonia the style branches 

 are bifid and the stamens uni- 

 lateral. Botanists have had 

 some difficulty in determining 

 whether various plants of this 

 section of the iris family belong 

 to the genus Gladiolus, Lapey- 

 rousia, Babiana, or Antholyza. 

 Babiana is distinguished by 

 its ver}^ hairy, plaited leaves, 

 while Antholyza has the tube 

 suddenly dilated at the middle 

 instead of gradually widening 

 as in the genus Gladiolus. 



The corms of the different 

 species of Gladiolus vary con- 

 siderably in size, shape, and 

 color. Usually the body of 

 the corm is white, yellowish, 

 or red, and it is covered with 

 a brown skin. The height of 

 the plants varies considerably, 

 ranging from a few inches to 

 four feet or more. The leaves, 

 which contribute so much to 

 the beauty of the plant, vary 

 in length, breadth, and color, 



Fig. 3. GLADIOLUS SEGETUM 



and also in number, some of the species having only two leaves while others 

 have from four to six. The leaves are graceful, often bending backward 

 toward their points as if to give greater prominence to the stem which 

 arises out of them as they recurve from either side. The flowers form a 

 spike on the summit of the stem, in some species arranged on one side of 

 the stem only, in others on opposite sides. In the more modern cultivated 

 varieties the flowers open so widely as to form a spike of matchless beauty. 



