This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER I. Garden History of the Gladiolus. The gladiolus is horticulturally the most important member of the Iridacae or great Iris family and has long been the most popular of all summerflowering bulbous plants, ranking in general usefulness even such prime favorites as the dahlia, the canna and the lily. Almost one hundred and fifty species have been from time to time described by botanists, but only a fraction of the number has thus far proved of value in breeding and development work. Fourteen or more species are natives of Southern Europe and Western Asia, but these have always been of minor importance as garden plants. The headquarters of the genus is South Africa, centering in Cape Colony and Natal, though there have been recent finds of value on the mountains of tropical Africa and in Madagascar. The European and Asiatic species run to purple and lilac in coloring, though white varieties occur in cultivation. Flowers and plants are rather small, rendering them most useful for pot or frame culture and for naturalizing in protected borders where the deeply planted corms can be kept from the effects of frost. The most attractive of these northern kinds are G. crispiflorus, G. atroviolaceus, G. Byzantinus and G. communis. The latter has been offered in this country as the "hardy" gladiolus, but it will not endure severe freezing. These species hybridize together when opportunity presents, but do not readily interbreed with the African kinds and have rarely developed garden forms superior to the respective wild types. The blooming time is early spring. Another series of early-blooming, small-flowered species is represented by G. blandus, flesh colored, G. Watsonius, scarlet, G. alatus, yellow and red, and G. tristis, pale yellow, ...