Gladiolus History 
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All flower and garden lovers are turning their attention 
to the wonderous beauty of the gladiolus. The gladiolus 
have improved since grandmother’s day. 
Most of the wild species hail from northern Africa, a 
few from southern Europe. The Grandavensis was the first 
type introduced for garden use as a result of hybridizing 
the wild species. It originated at Ghent, Belgium in 1837, 
and was characterized by many flowers set closely along 
the spike, by its scarlet color, striped effect and late flower¬ 
ing. The next step forward was the Brenchleyensis pro¬ 
duced in England in 1848, and named for the town of 
Brenchley, and a bright vermilion scarlet in color. Victor 
Lemoine, in 1885, introduced the lemoine or butterfly 
flowered type. These are characterized by flowers having 
conspicuous throat markings or blotches, which are seen in 
many varieties today such as Mrs. Frank Pendleton. A 
few years later, in 1889, Lemoine introduced another great 
race, the Nancianus, noted for its larger and more wide 
open flowers. It is from these four types that most of our 
later types have descended, by crossing varieties of these 
with each other or with the wild species. 
A fine race was produced in Germany by Max Leicht- 
lin. 1 hey were the first of the modem type of gladiolus. 
The stock was brought to this country by Hallock & Sons 
of Long Island. Some years later the entire stock was pur¬ 
chased by the late John Lewis Childs. One of the most 
famous varieties, America, was for many years a leader 
among gladiolus. 
One of the first Americans to become interested in the 
gladiolus was H. H. Groff, of Canada, who developed a 
wonderful strain of hybrids. These were grown and dis¬ 
tributed by Arthur Cowee of Berlin, N. Y. In 1907, 
