United States or Austria ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
More than 400 varieties have been named, comprising some of the most highly prized of all garden kinds. Lemoine introduced in 1878 his justly celebrated hybrids between Gandavensis and G. purpureo-auratus, known as Lemoinei. The Nanceianus strain, crosses between Lemoinei and G. Saundersii, was introduced in 1889. Childsii, originated by Max Leichtlin, Germany, was first disseminated in 1893.
This is a characteristic common to the Gandavensis varieties, while the opposite is true of the Lemoines. The typical spike should have two rows of flowers facing the same way, and near enough together to conceal the stem, or the most of it, but not so close as to look crowded.
The most popular varieties of the day, such as May, Augusta, and Shakespeare, have little resemblance to psittacinus and practically none to cardinalis, but exhibit strongly the main characteristics of G. oppositiflorus, an old white-and-rose, many-flowered species, often thought to have been the real parent of Gandavensis, instead of cardinalis.
It was not until 1878 that Victor Lemoine, Nancy, France, produced, by crossing the finest Gandavensis varieties with G. purpureo-auratus, an important race now widely known as Lemoinei, that possessed the rich and intense shades of red, purple, and yellow so ardently desired by fanciers.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that one variety was cultivated as far back as 1596, and another from 1629. Between 1750 and 1825 many new ones were added to those previously known. There are several general classes now before the public, of which the oldest is the Gandavensis. It is said that this was originated by Van Houtte, and was introduced in 1841.
The next great improvement in garden gladioli was brought about by Max Leichtlin, Baden Baden, Germany, who extensively hybridized the best Gandavensis varieties with G. Saundersii, then a newly introduced species characterized by large widely opened scarlet flowers speckled with white on the lower divisions.
It was eagerly welcomed by breeders of the day, among others the accomplished French hybridizer, Mons. Souchet, of Fontainebleu, who really laid the foundation of the modern Gandavensis strain, the basis of all that is best in the summer-blooming section. The predominating types of the finest Gandavensis varieties, however, retain few of the characteristics of psittacinus.
Some years after the introduction of the Gandavensis, Victor Lemoine, of Nancy, France, brought out a new hybrid to which he gave his own name, Lemoinei. It has a slender, graceful stem, which seems unable to take up water rapidly, and consequently only a few of its flowers open at once. These are smaller than those of the Gandavensis, and more arched in form.
The Van Houtte seedling, named Gandavensis in honor of the city of its origin, was so superior to psittacinus as to cause the latter to at once go out of cultivation. Gandavensis made a great sensation in its time and is still the best representative of the old-time gaudy red-and-yellow garden gladiolus, or corn flag.
The African forms first found their way to Europe about 1745 and new ones have since been constantly added. The genus now numbers almost 150 species. The first marked improvement, from the garden standpoint, came with the introduction from Holland, about 1785, of G. cardinalis, one of the reputed parents of G. Gandavensis. The true origin of Cardinalis has never been ascertained.
Word Of The Day