GINSENG 



GLADIOLUS 



1339 



1643. Parts of a gladiolus 

 flower. Showing the three 

 stigmas, three stamens, six 

 segments of the perianth, 

 and the tips of the spathe- 

 valves. 



seldom used except as a demulcent. The reverence in 

 which it is held, and the high price that it commands in 

 China, led to extensive search for a substitute, which 

 resulted in the discovery in 1716 of American ginseng, 

 Panax quinquefolium, near Montreal, Canada. This 

 root was favorably received by the Chinese, and soon 

 became an important article 

 of export. During the past 

 fifty years the price of Ameri- 

 can ginseng has advanced 

 nearly 700 per cent, but owing 

 to the energetic hunt for the 

 root, to the destruction of 

 forests and to the gathering 

 of plants at improper times, 

 the wild supply has greatly 

 decreased. With the advanc- 

 ing prices and the diminishing 

 supply came experiments in 

 ginseng cultivation, most of 

 which failed through igno- 

 rance of the plant's peculiari- 

 ties. The seed ripens in Sep- 

 tember. If dry it will not 

 germinate until the second 

 year, but if fresh and properly 

 kept nearly all the seeds will 

 germinate the first season. The soil must be a light, 

 friable loam, free from stones, rich in humus and well 

 drained ; the plants must be well supplied with shade 

 and moisture. Cultivated ginseng already commands a 

 considerably higher price than the wild root, and, 

 though no returns can be expected from a plantation 

 under three or four years, the industry is profitable 

 to the men that have given it careful attention. 



Ginseng beds can be located in orchards, gardens, or 

 woods, where the roots may remain without danger of 

 deterioration for several years after they first attain 

 marketable size. The roots are so valuable that they 

 are likely to be stolen, and beds should, therefore, be 

 placed where they can be guarded. 



For further information on ginseng, send to Division 

 of Publications, Department of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, D. C., for Bulletin No. 16 of the Division of 

 Botany, revised by M. G. Kains in 1898, or consult 

 Kains' Ginseng, its culture, etc., Orange Judd Company 

 1899; second edition, 1902. For diseases, consult Cor- 

 nell bulletins. M. G. KAINS. 



GITHAGO: Lychnis. 



GITHOPSIS (like Githago, from the calyx). Cara- 

 panulacese. One blue-fid, annual in Calif., sometimes 

 recorded in horticultural litera- 

 ture, G. specularimdes, Nutt. It 

 grows in the open hill country and 

 the mountains: st. simple or some- 

 what branched, 4-7 in. high, rough- 

 pubescent: Ivs. obovate to oblong 

 or narrower, sharp-toothed, less 

 than J^in. long: 

 corolla tubular- 

 bell-shaped, the 

 lobes shorter than 

 the tube; calyx 

 10-ribbed, adnate 

 to the ovary: fr. 

 a coriaceous caps., 

 bearing the rigid 

 calyx - lobes, de- 

 hiscing at apex. 

 Var. diffusa, Jep- 

 son, is nearly gla- 

 brous, but sinuses 

 of calyx some- 

 what hispid. 1644. Gladiolus conn growing above the old 

 L. H. B. ne ; an< * the cormels from the bottom. 



GLADIOLUS (diminutive of Latin gladius a sword, 

 from the shape of the leaves). Iridaceae. Popular 

 summer-flowering and autumn-flowering bulbs, and 

 now somewhat grown under glass. 



Corm-bearing herbs with fls. in simple or 

 branched spikes; Ivs. radical and cauline: fl. more 

 or less tubular, the tube usually funnel-shaped 

 (enlarging upward) ; segms. 6, more or less une- 

 qual, strongly narrowed or even clawed at the base, 

 the upper ones often hooded or roofed over the 

 opening or mouth of the fl.; stamens 3, inserted 

 on the tube; stigmas 3, on a long style; ovary 

 3-loculed, becoming an oblong 3-valved 

 caps., with flattened and winged or some- 

 times globose seeds: each fl. is borne in a 

 sessile spathe (like a calyx) with linear or 

 lanceolate valves or If .-like parts: the Ivs. 

 are mostly equitant on the st., all firm and 

 prominently several-ribbed, varying from 

 linear to sword-shaped (sometimes almost 

 terete): the old corm dies and a new one 

 grows on top, and cormels 

 or offsets (sometimes called 

 "spawn") form from the 

 underpart (Fig. 1644). The 

 species of Gladiolus are 160 

 or more, perhaps 100 being in 

 S. Afr. (Cape), many in Trop. 

 Afr. in both the E. and the 

 W., and others in the Medit. 

 and W. Asian regions. The 

 greater part of highly im- 

 proved garden forms are de- 

 rived more or less directly 

 from the S. African species. 

 The Eurasian species are little 

 grown, although some of them 

 are hardy. Gladioli have been 

 much modified by variation, 

 hybridizing and selection. 



The gladiolus is propa- 

 gated readily by seeds, as 

 explained farther on; by the 

 use of the new corm growing above 

 the old one, and which is separated 

 either when cleaning in autumn or 

 before planting in spring; by the 

 young corms, or cormels. Increasing 

 stock by the small corms or cormels is 

 the most common method, and the 

 one by which a variety is perpetu- 

 ated. The small corms are stored in 

 bags, boxes or other suitable recepta- 

 cles and kept from frost. It is a help 

 to sprouting if the cormels are not 

 allowed to dry out during the period 

 of rest. They should be planted like 

 one-year seedlings, and they give 

 blooming plants the first and second 

 year. 



Great progress has been made in 

 recent years in the improvement of 

 the gladiolus, until in floriferousness, 

 form, color, substance and keeping 

 qualities it has become one of the im- 

 portant summer flowers, both for 

 amateurs and florists. It is to be expected, however, 

 that many other forms and qualities are yet to appear, 

 considering the great number of wild species of much 

 beauty that have not been combined in the cultivated 

 strains. It may be possible, also, that closely related 

 genera can be used to some extent in hybridizing. The 

 lines of division between Gladiolus, Antholyza, Acidan- 

 thera, and some others, are more or less arbitrary. 



The early departures were of the gandavensis (Fig. 

 1645) and similar types, founded probably on G. 



1645. Gladiolus 



gandavensis. 



(XH) 



