GLADIOLUS GANDIENSIS. 
(The (ihent Corn-flag.) 
Class. 
TRIANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, 
IRIDACEiE. 
Generic Character.— Jn/^omcence alternate, dis- 
tiehously spicate, few or many-flowered, with a two- 
valved lanceolate spathe. Corolla superior, tubular, 
six-parted, funnel-shaped, irregular ; tube 'erect, 
slender in the throat, short or cylindrically elongated ; 
limb six-parted, two-lipped, subequal and divaricate, 
or very unequal. Anthers linear-oblong. Style with 
the same direction as the stamens. Stigma with three 
elongated lamellas, obversely attenuated, replicate. 
Capsule membranaceous, ovate-oblong, obtusely trigo- 
nal, three-celled, three-valved ; valves seed-bearing in 
the middle. Seeds numerous. 
Specific Character. — Plant a garden hybrid, re- 
sembling Gr. communis, but much larger and hand- 
somer. 
Few cultivators seem to be aware of the great capabilities of the genus Gladiolus 
for ornamental purposes, and hence we commonly see the better species cramped 
into comparatively small pots, with a poor soil, and reaching only half the size and 
beauty which they would acquire by being subjected to better treatment. 
It is as border plants, especially, that they prove so peculiarly showy ; whether 
the border be in the open air, sheltered from behind, and having a southern aspect, 
or whether it be in a pit or frame, or low conservatory. When planted out in a 
free soil, they appear to take a new character, and become objects of the most 
splendid description. 
G. Gandiensis, which has probably received its name from having come from 
Ghent to this country, is an exceedingly good addition to the genus. It is evi- 
dently of hybrid extraction, and G. communis is most likely one of its parents. 
To that species, indeed, it bears much resemblance ; but has more of the open 
flowers of G. pudihundus, with a slight indication of its tints. 
Whatever may have been its origin, it is certainly a noble plant, and flowers in 
great abundance. Our drawing was made from two places in the neighbourhood 
of London, during the last summer; the flower, No. 1, having been obtained from 
Mr. Mountjoy's, of Ealing ; and No. 2, from Messrs. Rollisson's, Tooting. There 
is a trifling diff'erence between the two; yet both are obviously from the same 
parentage. With considerable boldness of habit, they combine a highly ornamental 
inflorescence. 
