Sports — or Mutations 
These are color changes, as well as organic changes of the plant. They are more 
common than generally supposed, as we have selected and propagated hundreds of sepa¬ 
rate specimens. No Gladiolus variety will maintain after long propagation (in all its 
increase) the exact reproduction of the original plant. Variations are taking place at all 
times, sometimes very slight, at other times very radical, in excessive color changes, or 
other organic changes. We call them SPORTS. 
Last season we selected four plants of Mother Machree where the color change was 
complete and did not resemble the original color in any way. This season, 1933, these 
four plants were carefully checked under separate label; two reverted back completely to 
the color of Mother Machree, and two have remained true to the new color. My experi¬ 
ence has taught me that the latter two will now remain that color. Sometimes slight 
temporary color changes are caused by some kinds of fertilizing material. At other times, 
extreme weather conditions cause color changes that are only temporary, but we have often 
found that many varieties, making only a slight color change will remain that way. We 
have made selections along this line and have been able to propagate such slight color 
changes from one bulb in all its increase of several years. 
There are several well known varieties that are supposed to have originated as sports. 
In growing these, no matter how pure our stock, we have always found a fair number of 
“Rouges”; that is when growing, say Dr. Elkins you are sure to find some “Pendletons” 
from time to time (Dr. Elkins is a sport from Mrs. F. Pendleton). The same can be 
said of all varieties that originated as Sports. I remember one year when we were growing 
Wilbrinck, which originated as a Sport of Halley; one plant of Wilbrinck partly reverted 
to the Halley color, but this particular plant was composed of wide stripes of Wilbrinck 
color intermixed with stripes of the Halley color. We propagate this plant some years; 
all the increase remained true to this mixed, and striped coloring. 
We have selected from 5 to 6 distinctly different sports from one single variety, and we 
think the limit much higher than this, we also know that in a number of instances, several 
growers, in various sections, widely removed, have selected the same indentical sport, 
although their stock was not from the same source. One variety just recently introduced, 
and that originated as a sport, is known to have been selected by three different growers, in 
widely separated places; I remember some years ago, a man selected what he thought to 
be a new and distinct sport, of Mrs. F. Pendleton, and he thought he had a new va¬ 
riety until I told him it was identical with Dr. Elkins, that was introduced by Kunderd 
and originated as a Mrs. Pendleton sport. The man that had the new 1 sport, had a plant 
that originated in his own plantings as a sport, it was not an accidental mixture of Dr. 
Elkins as he had grown Mrs. Pendleton for years and never had any Elkins stock on his 
place, but this shows the possibility of a variety that originates as a sport, it may at any 
time, be reproduced in some other planting of the original variety. There has been much 
argument as to the origin of the variety “Marmora”. Errey states that he found the 
original plant growing on a piece of ground where he had planted some Emile Aubrun 
seedlings the year before, and believes it to be an Aubrun seedling. It may be as Errey 
states, but indications point strongly to the fact that it may have been a sport of Emile 
Aubrun, for no matter how pure your stock of Marmora, you are likely to find Emile 
Aubrun plants quite frequently. We have a very large stock of Marmora, and each year 
you can pick hundreds of flowers of Marmora that will have patches of Aubrun color on 
them; sometimes half of one petal, sometimes nearly all of one side of a spike, and even a 
patch of Aubrun color that is barely discernible; but all are likely to prove true the next 
season. For this reason I have thought Marmora originated as a Sport, as it has all the 
traits of a Sport. Of course there are some well known varieties like Paul Pfitzer, where 
no matter how pure your stock, you can pull many lighter colored glads from them each 
season. These assume many different shades, but if you will make careful observations 
and tests you will find them all to be Sports and not “rouges” as some might suppose. 
— 28 — 
