78 The Gladiolus. 



THE GLADIOLUS. 



There is probably no flower that has grown into popularity so rapidly 

 as the gladiolus. Of comparatively recent introduction, the few species 

 we possessed were but little grown, and not generally in favor. This for 

 two reasons : the finer kinds, such as the ramosus and cardinalis hybrids, 

 were not adapted for open-air culture, and, in the greenhouse, bloomed at a 

 season when flowers were not wanted ; and, secondl}', the only hardy bedding 

 species we had {G. natalensis ox psittaciiius) was dull colored, and not par- 

 ticularly attractive. For many years, this last-named species was the only 

 one in garden cultivation. Experiments had often been made to effect 

 hybridization between this and the mere slender-growing, showy-flowered 

 greenhouse species. The Rev. Mr. Herbert of Spofforth, England, — than 

 whom there never has been better authority on bulbous plants, and whose 

 gardens contained more rare bulbs than any collection afforded, — for 

 many years experimented in this direction, but with uniform ill success. 

 While there seemed no reason why hybrids should not be produced, con- 

 stant failure at last led him to believe the desired result an impossibility. 

 The question was, however, definitely settled by the production, in Ghent, 

 of the hybrid now known as G. Gandavensis, which, retaining the vigorous 

 habit of G. psittaciiius and the yellow-throat, had yet the brighter colors of 

 the more showy G. cardinalis. To this variety we probably owe the many 

 showy kinds popularly known as " Gandavensis hybrids." 



We should not, however, neglect to mention a popular species with light 

 pink or white flowers, to which we also owe something, and from which, 

 probably, the lighter colors were derived. G. floribundus or oppositiflonis 

 (from the arrangement of the flowers) is a beautiful species. In habit it is 

 delicate, though more robust than the greenhouse species. The flowers are 

 of a delicate rose-pink or white, with purple throat, produced in long, 

 crowded spikes. The bulb is small ; and, to produce a striking effect, the 

 plants should be grown in clumps. It is a species well worth culture, and, 

 because of the production of more showy species, has met with unmerited 

 neglect. 



The first of the " Gandavensis hybrids " which were seen in Boston were 



