ON THE GLADIOLUS 



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 a good many more 

 than that. 



All of which is essential to an understanding 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 without 

 exception, they are hybrids that carry the Ganda- 

 vensis strain among others, and hence are multiple 

 hybrids, the precise lineage of which is too intri- 

 cate for tracing. 



It is this fact that accounts for the wide range 

 of variation as to form and color that characterizes 

 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 true 

 of the cultivated fruits and vegetables. As regards 

 a large proportion of these, the cultivated varieties 

 have not only supplanted the original species but 

 no definite record remains of the original species 

 themselves. The case of the gladiolus differs, and 

 gains added interest, in that the original species 

 were brought from Southern Africa to Europe only 

 a little more than a century ago. The develop- 



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