26 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



followed these, are grown now, with the possible excep- 

 tion of Vesuvius. We see that the hybrid Sedeni was 

 produced by crossing two species, and that this hybrid 

 was almost immediately used as a parent itself, resulting 

 in the sub-hybrids Chelsoni and Vesuvius. Thence- 

 forward the work of crossing was no longer botanical. 

 Trade florists, both in this country and abroad, crossed 

 and re-crossed ; and they kept the records of the various 

 crosses to themselves. One of the first of the nursery- 

 men to become famous as a raiser of Begonias was 

 the late John Laing, and he was followed by Pope, 

 Cannell, Lascelles, Blackmore, and Langdon. They all 

 did good work, but none of them published details of 

 his crosses, and it may be said truly that it is a wise 

 Begonia child which knows its own father. 



Laing did not begin till 1875 or 1876, but things 

 moved so fast that by 1906 we had a magnificent array 

 of varieties, including many shapes and colours. At the 

 present time they could be classified by form if desired. 

 Some are single and others double. The former could 

 be classified as plain and frilled, the latter as Camellia- 

 shape, Hollyhock-shape, Rose-shape, and Water-lily 

 shape. All the doubles are beautiful, whatever their 

 form, as long as they have only one centre, and that 

 symmetrical. 



It is an interesting fact about single Begonias that 

 the flowers are generally borne in clusters of three, the 

 central one being a male, and the other two females. 

 Double Begonias are sexless, as the organs of fertilisa- 

 tion are transformed into petals. 



Single and double alike are now distinguished by 

 good habit. The flowers do not hang nerveless on 

 slender stems, but are borne erect on strong stems, and 

 show up in handsome clusters above the leaves. This is 



