552 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



de Versailles, Colvillei, and its variety Colvillei albus or The 

 Bride, a highly esteemed and world-wide grown plant. As pre- 

 viously stated, they are cultivated in the Netherlands and in the 

 Channel Isles. They are planted from October to December in 

 pits, where they are sheltered from frost, and they open their 

 flowers from June to July. 



Thus far, in spite of the variety of its shapes and colours, the 

 Gladiolus was little more than a plant for amateurs. The ap- 

 pearance of the Ghent Gladiolus (gandavensis) produced quite a 

 sensation in the horticultural world, and caused the rapid diffusion 

 of a kind which became in a short time very popular. 



In the course of the summer of 1837 the gardener to the 

 Duke of Aremberg, at Enghien, named Beddinghaus, thought of 

 hybridising G. psittacinus with G. cardinalis * It is possible that 

 some other species, grown along with the two named ones, had 

 been used at the same time as polleniferous plants. However, 

 the appearance of the offspring revealed its origin. This Gladiolus 

 showed the habit and inflorescence of G. psittacinus but with 

 larger individual blooms, and the colour of G. cardinalis but 

 more diversified, red with pink shades, and yellowish spots on 

 the lower segments of the flowers. 



As soon as Louis van Houtte, the celebrated Ghent horti- 

 culturist, heard of Beddinghaus's success, he purchased the 

 novelty and gave it the name of Gladiolus gandavensis. 



" I have just acquired the exclusive property of this Gladiolus," 

 said he in his Catalogue for 1841, " excepting two bulbs which 

 are in the possession of another Belgian nurseryman. Everyone 

 is coming to see it whilst I am writing these lines. For its habit 

 and colour it leaves far behind everything known among Gladioli. 

 Its size surpasses that of G. ramosus ; its majestic corollas, 

 seventeen to twenty in number, are of the brightest vermilion, 

 their lower petals, adorned with chrome-yellow, amaranth-red, 

 and pistachia, are, besides, beautified through the sky-blue anthers 

 which decorate the centre of the flower." 



When the reader of this pompous description has before his 

 eyes the coloured plate which Van Houtte published in his 

 " Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe " for 1846, he may 

 find some difficulty to understand how such a flower could sug- 

 gest such enthusiastic ideas. In fact, since 1841, nurserymen have 

 * On the origin of G. gandavensis, see note, p. 574. 



