THE GLADIOLUS 13 



of G. oppositiflorus accounts for the modifica- 

 tions of form and for the introduction of a 

 tendency to produce white flowers; and that 

 strains of G. blandus and G. ramosus have also 

 been introduced. 



In a word, the form of gladiolus that came to 

 be familiar everywhere under the name ganda- 

 vensis is not merely a hybrid, but a hybrid that 

 probably carries the racial strains of at least four 

 or five species, and possibly of many more than 

 that. 



All of which is essential to an understand- 

 ing of the later developments of the race of 

 gladioli. 



For when we come to investigate the pedigrees 

 of the chief races of gladiolus that are now found 

 in our gardens, we learn that, practically with- 

 out exception, they are hybrids that carry the 

 gandavensis strain among others, and hence are 

 multiple hybrids, the precise lineage of which is 

 too intricate for tracing. 



It is this fact that accounts for the wide range 

 of variation as to form and color that charac- 

 terizes the gladioli of our gardens. For the 

 hybrid races have practically supplanted the 

 original species everywhere. 



The same thing is of course largely true of 

 most other cultivated flowers, and it is altogether 



