172 
March  2,  1899. 
JOURXAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AXD 
CO  TT A  a E  GA  RDEXER, 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  PELARGONIUM. 
(Concluded  from  pacje  153.) 
The  Zonal  ract^  acquired  importance  subsequently  to  the  large- 
flowering  section.  Those  we  collectively  term  “  Zonals  ”  were  grouped 
by  Sweet  under  the  generic  desiiination  Giconium,  and  the  most  im¬ 
portant  of  this  genus  are  Giconium  zonale,  introduced  in  1710,  and 
Giconium  inquinans,  introduced  in  1714.  These  are  the  two  parents  of 
the  race,  no  doubt,  but  their  differences  do  not  account  for  the  fact  that 
in  the  garden  varieties  we  have  every  imaginable  variation  of  leafage  and 
of  bloom.  It  is  likely  that  Giconium  reticulatum  of  Sweet  (143),  a  very 
distinct  hybrid,  gave  the  first  touch  to  the  variegation  of  the  leaves,  which 
has  attained  to  such  extraordinary  development.  In  any  case,  this 
hybrid  marks  a  distinct  departure  and  appears  to  be  well  suited  to  be  the 
founder  of  a  race. 
The  “Nosegay”  section  is  the  oldest  of  the  Zonals.  The  founder  of 
this  section  is  Giconium  Fothergilli,  the  figure  of  which  by  Sweet  (226) 
would  nearly  serve  to  represent  a  good  Nosegay  of  the  present  day,  and 
it  may  therefore  be  concluded  that  the  Nosegays  have  been  less  modified 
than  the  Zonals  that  represent  zonale  and  inquinans. 
Another  early  section  is  that  with  green  leaves  and  pink  flowers,  of 
which  we  may  consider  Ghristine  the  modern  type.  This  section  is  fore¬ 
shadowed  in  Giconium  cerinum,  which  is  admirably  figured  by  Sweet 
(176).  Here  we  have  pubescent  leaves  and  .flowers  of  a  soft  rosy  pink 
colour,  the  petals  of  which  are  beautifully  rounded  and  nearly  equal  in 
size.  Cultivators  who  remember  Lucia  rosea  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
connecting  the  dwarf  bedding  Pelargoniums  of  the  ghristine  class  with 
this  beautiful  wax-flowered  Pelargonium,'  whjch  StjiV,eetj,regarded  as  a  true 
species. 
The  famous  General  Tom  Thumb,  a  descen^nt  of  Prograore  Scarlet, 
and  a  competitor  of  Huntsman,  Cooper’s  Scaxlei,  an^  many  more  that  the 
General  quickly  vanquished  from  the  fiel^.  famous  variety  was 
raised  by  Mr.  Wilson,  gardener  to  W.  Pigott,  Esq,,  ofDullingham  House, 
Newmarket,  about  the  year  IS-l2.  It  is  said  that  as  a  seedling  it  was 
condemned  and  handed  over  to  some  children  to.be  tormented,  and  very 
soon  found  its  way  to  a  dust-bin.  But  by  some'  accident  it  was  dragged 
from  the  dust-bin  and  planted,  and  as  the  summer  advanced  it  manifested 
its  character,  and  secured  its  fame  and  many  more  admirers  than 
Barnum’s  protoge.  But  many  persons  have  some  kind  of  claim  to  the 
honour  of  raising  Tom  Thumb,  for  there  prevailed  during  some  fifteen 
years — say  from  1840  to  1855 — a  mania  for  raising  scarlet  Pelargoniums 
adapted  for  bedding  ;  for  those  were  the  days  of  the  horticultural  scarlet 
fever,  and  many  varieties  nearly  alike  came  forth  from  various  quarters. 
Many  of  these  passed  for  genuine  Tom  Thumbs,  and  many  perhaps  were 
quite  as  good.  However,  the  original  and  true  variety  differed  from  most 
of  the  others  in  this  respect,  that  it  rarely  ripened  a  seed  unless  it  was 
artificially  fertilised,  when  it  was  as  prolific  as  any.  This  fact  separates 
it  far  from  Christine,  which  is  an  inveterate  seeder.  The  leafage  also  puts 
them  far  asunder,  for  Tom  has  a  smooth  papery  leaf  of  a  yellowish  green, 
and  Christine  has  a  thick  soft  leaf  of  a  bluish  green — one  takes  us  back  to 
inquinans,  the  other  to  cerifera,  and  Nature  ordered  the  characters  ages 
ago  in  the  solitudes  that  stretch  away  drearily  to  the  west  of  Cape  Town, 
The  pink-flowered  Christine  was  raised  by  Mr,  F.  R.  Kinghorn  of 
Richmond  in  the  year  1852.  The  parents  were  Ingram’s  Princess  Royal 
and  an  old  pink  Nosegay,  which  was  formerly  much  used  for  training  on 
walls  and  pillars.  The  peculiar  softness  and  blue  tone  of  the  leafage  of 
Christine  do  not  appear  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  parentage,  there  being 
in  it  such  evident  traces  of  the  Cerinum  or  Monstrosum  of  Sweet,  Mr. 
Kinghorn,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  its  history,  te  Is  me  that  he  very 
soon  made  note  of  its  strong  individuality,  in  which  it  seems  to  rise  to  the 
rank  of  a  species,  and  reproduces  itselt  freely  and  truly  from  seeds.  During 
some  fifteen  years  it  was  the  most  popular  of  all  bedding  plants,  for  it 
outran  Tom  Thumb  at  last.  The  beautiful  Rose  Queen,  sent  out  in  1855, 
was  one  of  the  good  things  obtained  by  yir,  Kinghorn  in  the  same  batch 
with  Christine.  This  has  higher  quality,  but  never  proved  so  good  a 
bedder,  and  therefore  never  attained  to  great  popularity. 
It  would  be  unfair  to  omit  all  mention  of  the  variegated-leaved  varie¬ 
ties,  because  in  a  good  bedding  display  they  contribute  features  fully  as 
important  as  the  strong  colours.  They  tone  down  and  harmonise  and 
divide.  In  the  year  1844  there  were  very  lew  variegated  Zonals  known, 
and  only  one  with  bright  scarlet  flowers  ;  this  was  called  Lee’s  Varie¬ 
gated,  and  was  very  scarce.  It  was.H  think,  raised  by  Mr.  Bailey,  then 
gardener  at  Nuneham  Park.  Mr.  Kinghorn  selected  this  Lee’s'Varie- 
gated  to  supply  pollen  for  a  cross  on  the  old  Compactura,  which  was  the 
seed  parent,  and  in  the  first  batch  of  seedlings  from  this  cross  he  obtained 
the  celebrated  Cerise  Unique,  and  the  much  more  celebrated  Flower  of 
the  Day,  the  most  useful  and  most  famous  of  all  know  n  variegated-leaved 
Zonals.  ^  Mr.  Kinghorn  considered  this  was  the  greatest  advance  ever 
accomplished  at  one  bound  in  work  (f  this  kind,  and  I  thoroughly 
agree  with  him.  The  large  seedling  plant  and  two  smaller  planTs  of 
Flower  of  the  Day  were  purchased  by  Messrs.  Lee  in  August,  1849,  and 
in  August,  1850,  they  had  a  stock  of  1500  plants  of  various  sizes  to  offer 
for  sale — a  wonderful  sight  in  those  days,  and  one  worth  seeino-  even 
now.  ” 
It  so  happens  that  the  last-named,  most  useful  of  all  the  silver-leaved 
varieties,  conducts  us  direct  to  the  fountain  head  of  the  whole  race  of  the 
tricolors.  In  the  year  1850  Mr.  Kinghorn  raised  from  Flower  of  the 
Day  the  beautiful  variety  known  as  Attraction,  the  leaf  of  which  has  a 
silvery  margin  and  a  dark  zone,  diffusing  subdued  rays  of  red  and  rich 
brown  outwards  upon  the  creamy  band  that  girdles  it.  The  Attraction 
was  the  first  silver  tricolor,  and  one  of  the  parents  of  the  first  golden 
tricolor.  Mr.  Grieve,  in  his  admirable  History'  of  Variegated  Pelar¬ 
goniums,  tells  that  he  fertilised  a  dark-zoned  variety  known  as  Cottage 
Maid  with  the  pollen  of  Attraction.  Amongst  the  seedlings  occurred  one 
that  was  the  parent  of  the  dark-zoned  Emperor  of  the  French,  from  w  hich 
came  the  whole  race  of  golden  tricolors.  From  Cottage  Maid  and 
Golden  Chain  (the  latter  being  the  pollen  parent)  DIr.  Grieve  obtained 
Golden  Tom  Thumb,  and  from  Emperor  of  the  French  and  Golden  Tom 
Thumb  (the  latter  being  the  pollen  parent)  he  obtained  Golden  Pheasant, 
the  first  true  golden  tricolor.  This  same  Emperor  of  the  French,  grandson 
of  Attraction,  produced  by  the  pollen  of  Golden  Pneasant  two  famous 
tricolors,  Mrs.  Pollock  and  Sunset. 
The  double  Pelargoniums  have  had  a  career  of  fifty  years  at  least. 
A  handsome  double  purple,  named  Veitchianum,  not  of  the  zonal  section, 
bat  allied  to  Barringtoni,  was  raised  by'  the  late  Mr.  J.  Veitch  at  Exeter 
about  the  year  1828,  and  its  portrait  appears  in  Sweet’s  supplementary 
volume  (81),  where  nearly  next  door  to  it  is  another  double  named 
Implicatum  (86). 
But  the  proper  history  of  the  doubles  begins  with  Wilmore’s  Surprise, 
a  handsome  semi  double  variety,  which  was  described  and  figured  in 
the  “Gardeners’  Chronicle”  of  August  17th,  1850.  This  was  found  hy 
Mrs.  Wilmore  of  Strawberry  Vale,  Edgbaston,  growing  in  the  midst  of 
a  plantation  of  Hollyhocks,  and  so  unaccustomed  were  the  eyes  of  the 
florists  to  such  a  thing  that  it  was  considered  to  be  a  true  hybrid 
between  a  Pelargonium  and  a  Hollyhock.  A  remarkable  fact  in  the 
history  of  this  variety  is  that  simultaneously  with  the  finding  of  it  in  the 
garden  at  EJgbaston  it  was  obtained  by  the  late  Mr.  Beaton  as  a  sport 
from  Diadematum  ruhescens,  and  was  by  him  named  Monstrosum.  The 
Edgbaston  plant  was  shown  by  Messrs.  Lee  of  Hammersmith  at  Regent’s 
Park  on  the  30th  of  June,  1852,  and  Mr.  Beaton  suppressed  his  monstrosum 
in  favour  of  it. 
The  double  Zonals  are  of  later  date,  one  of  the  earliest  being  the 
crimson-scarlet  Gloire  de  Nancy,  which  was  first  shown  in  this  country 
in  the  year  1866.  In  the  year  1869  there  were  seventeen  double  Zonals 
brought  into  public  notice,  and  of  other  sections  in  that  year  the  collective 
name  was  Legion.  At  this  point  of  the  story  the  subject  becomes  too 
large  to  be  handled  on  the  present  occasion.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
during  the  few  years  when  Geraniums  were  everything  and  all  other 
vegetables  i.othing  in  human  estimation  the  heads  of  gardeners  were  so 
crammed  with  zones  and  margins,  and  trusses  and  pips  and  beds,  that 
there  was  no  room  for  anything  else,  and  the  phenomena  of  the 
tulipomania  ",ere  reproduced  in  a  newer  fashion,  and  no  one  was  fully 
aware  of  the  fact  that  the  world  had  gone  mad  on  the  subject  of, 
Pelargoniums. 
Now  that  we  can  again  survey  the  subject  calmly  it  will  be  observed 
that  two  clashes  of  Pelargoniums  remain  In  full  favour  with  the  public. 
The  large-flowered  show  varieties  and  the  large-flowered  single  Zonals 
take  the  lead,  and  they  are  pleasantly  followed  by  a  crowd  of  lyy- 
leaved,  double-flowered,  and  variegated  sorts  that  are  useful  and  beautiful, 
but  no  longer  oppress  us  by  their  multitude  and  similarity.  A  severe 
standard  of  judging  has  been  set  up,  and  a  variety  must  be  distinct  and 
good  to  pass  through  the  sieve.  Moreover,  the  raising  of  varieties  has 
been  to  a  great  extent  reduced  to  scientific  principles,  and  we  obtain  as 
a  result  new  characters  suggestive  of  the  great  extent  of  the  field  that 
still  lies  open  to  the  adventurous  spirit  in  cross-breeding.  No  one  in 
recent  years  has  contributed  more  directly  towards  the  scientific  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  subject  than  Dr.  Denny,  of  whose  labours  I  propose  to 
present  a  hasty  sk  teh. 
Dr.  Denny  commenced  the  raising  of  Pelargoniums  in  the  year  1866, 
having  in  view  to  ascertain  the  influence  of  parentage,  and  thus  to 
establish  a  rule  for  the  selection  of  varieties  for  seed-bearing  purposes. 
In  raising  varieties  with  variegated  leaves,  as  also  with  distinct  and  hand¬ 
some  flowers,  he  found  the  pollen  parent  exercised  the  greatest  influence 
on  the  offspring.  The  foundation  of  his  strain  of  circular-flowered  Zonals 
was  obtained  by  fertilising  the  large  starry  flowers  of  Leonidas  with  pollen 
taken  from  the  finely  formed  flowers  of  Lord  Derby.  From  1871  to  the 
present  time  (1880)  Dr.  Denny  has  sent  out  sixty  varietie.»,  and  he  has  in 
the  same  period  raised  and  flowered  and  destroyed  about  30,000.  These 
figures  show  that  when  the  selection  is  severe,  and  nothing  is  allowed  to 
pass  that  is  not  of  the  highest  quality,  there  must  be  500  seedlings  grown 
for  the  chance  of  obtaining  one  wortli  naming.  The  late  Mr.  John  Salter 
used  to  say  that  it  was  needful  to  flower  2000  seedling  Chrysanthemums 
for  the  chance  of  one  worth  naming.  Therefore,  if  the  comparison  is  of 
any  value,  it  shows  that  raising  Zonals  is  a  very  profitable  business,  the 
chances  of  success  being  lour  times  greater  than  with  Chrysanthemums. 
But  Dr.  Denny  obtain.s  more  good  things  than  he  sends  out,  for  he  makes 
every  year  a  selection  of  plants  for  seeding,  and  these  amount  to  about 
3  per  cent,  of  the  total  number.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  for  every 
one  sent  out  under  name  there  are  about  fifteen  equally  good,  or  nearly' 
so,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  they  are  not  parted  wiih,  but  are  reserved 
to  supply  seed  or  pollen,  and  are  then  destroyed  to  make  room  for  a  new 
selection. 
Amongst  many  interesting  results  of  our  friend’s  observations  is  one 
that  strikingly  confirms  a  suspicion  that  accompanies  a  study  of  Sweet’s 
portraits — it  is  that  some  varieties  assume  the  character  and  bearing  of 
species,  and  by'  sell-fertilisation  reproduce  themselves  with  peculiar 
exactitude.  No  one  can  doubt  that  mauy  of  the  so-called  species  of  plants, 
whether  of  Pelargoniums  at  the  Cape  or  of  Willows  in  England,  are  as 
truly  hybrids  as  any  that  are  raised  in  gardens.  And  this  brings  us  to  the 
question.  What  is  a  species  .’  and  the  question  suggests  that  it  in  treating 
this  great  subject  I  scarcely  knew  where  to  begin,  I  certainly  know 
where  to  leave  off.  I  confess  I  do  not  know  what  is  a  species — and  so, 
thanking  you  for  your  kind  attention,  I  now  return  to  the  golden  silence. 
