Gladiolus Studies — II 



211 



flowers are partly horizontal-facing, and are more erect than in the normal 



and less so than in the actinomorphic form. At the same time the flower 



often varies a little, in that one segment onh' is blotched. Flowers that 



are naturally irregular but 



become regular through a 



symmetrical repetition of 



the irregularity, are known 



as peloric,. or peloriate. 



The florist form is thus 



semi-peloric. 



Careful obser\'ation will 

 determine whether this is 

 a fair explanation of the 

 forms. Varieties differ 

 much in their arrangement 

 of the various forms cf 

 flowers found on a single 

 spike. According to Bliss 

 (1916), there are fewer 

 florist type flowers " when 

 young, or crowded, or in 

 poor soil, and more when 

 at full size and under most 

 favourable conditions. 

 . . . If the stem of a 

 variety which usually pro- 

 duces all or many semi- 

 peloriate flowers is partly 

 cut through and bent over, 

 the flowers, when they 

 open, will be chiefly, if not 

 all, of the normal form — 

 and some even of the 

 reversion form." 



Among the varieties on 

 the trial grounds at Cor- 

 nell University, Eureka 

 and Chalice seem excellent 

 examples of the reversion form. In both cases the flowers are Hly-like 

 and erect. The variety Dandy produces many flowers of the acti- 

 nomorphic form. Bird of Paradise follows rather closely the arrangement 

 of Gladiolus oppositiflorus. 



Fig. 17. BIRD OF PARADISE 



This variety illustrate"; the extreme Gladiolus opposiiiflorus char- 

 acters in the arrangement and large number of its flowers 



