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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.
In 1840 G. Gandavensis was raised in Belgium from seed of G. psittacinus, an African species supposed to be pollinated with Cardinalis, but more, likely with G. oppositiflorus, which the progeny of Gandavensis more closely resembles. From 1845 until 1880 Gandavensis seedlings or "French Hybrids" held full sway in gardens.
The writer's experience is that present-day authentic hybrids of psittacinus and cardinalis do not resemble Gandavensis, while the issue of psittacinus x oppositiflorus closely reproduces Gandavensis as it is found in old gardens.
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