Gladiolus Studies — I 



^35 



ptireo-auratus hybridiis Froebeli, which very much resembled the variety 

 Marie Lemoine. 



Other plant breeders used the Lemoinei varieties to cross with the 

 best varieties of G. gandavensis. Among these producers were: Deleuil, of 

 Marseilles; Trefoux, of Auxerre; Torcy-Vaunier. of Melun; Souillard 

 and Bninelet, of Fontainebleau; Haage & Schmidt, of Erfurt ; and Krelage. 

 of Haarlem. 



Although developed simultaneously with G. Lemoinei, the hybrid 

 gandavensis x Sounder si i — produced by Herr Leichtlin and known as 

 G. Leichtlinii and later as G. Childsii — was not generally distributed 

 until after G. nanceianus. When the stock of G. Leichtlinii passed into the 

 hands of M. Godefroy-Lebeuf, it is said that he sold mixed corms but 

 did not name any of the seedlings of this class. Hax-ing purchased some 

 of the stock and having also some corms from Herr Leichtlin. M. Lemoine 

 was aware of the improvement shown in this group and therefore was led 

 to undertake the crossing of G. Lemoinei and G. Saundersii which resulted 

 in producing G. nanceianus. G. Childsii (formerly called G. Leichtlinii) 

 seems not to have interested European growers, probably because of their 

 interest in the fine varieties of \L Lemoine. In America, on the other 

 hand, the Childsii varieties found favor, and through the efforts of American 

 cultivators the flowers have been improved in substance. ^L Froebel, 

 of Zurich, in 1889 sent out G. turicensis, a variety produced by crossing 

 G. Saundersii with G. gandavensis, which is the same cross as that made by 

 Herr Leichtlin and therefore has been regarded as the same as G. Childsii. 



The purptireo-auratus-gandavensis hybrids, kno^Ti in horticultural 

 literatiire as G. Lemoinei, were crossed on G. Saiitidersii (introduced in 

 1872) by ]\L Lemoine in 1883. The result was four seeds from which 

 the seedlings afterward named President Camot and Maurice de Vilmorin 

 were chosen in 1885. These varieties were remarkable for their large 

 flowers and ntmierous dots of color. The originator claimed that this 

 class was also hardy. The first varieties (nine in number) from this 

 cross were introduced in 1889, and these with other seedlings were shown 

 at the Universal Exposition in Paris in that year. This group has been 

 known as G. nanceianus. 



G. Victorious was introduced in 1893 by Dammann & Co., of San 

 Giovanni a Teduccio, near Naples. This variety was described as a 

 hybrid between G. byzantinus and G. cardinalis, or between a European 

 and a Cape species, and, if correct, it was the first hybrid of such parentage 

 on record. The finn's catalog for 1893 stated that the variety was hardy 

 and belonged to the early-flowering class or group. In habit the plant 

 was intermediate between the parents; the flowers were pink or dark red, 

 and the inner segments were striped as in G. cardinalis. The season 

 was about the middle of April and the flowers were somewhat scented. 



