GLADIOLUS, a genus of monocotyledonous or endogenous plants, belonging to the natural order Iridaceoe, and representative of the tribe Gladioleoe, a group of bulbous plants in which the perianth is irregular, and the stamens unilateral and arched, with the filaments free. It belongs to a subdivision of the Gladioleoe, in which the segments of the limb of the perianth are very unequal, and is specially distinguished by having the perianth tube curved, funnel-shaped, and widening upwards, and by the segments equalling or exceeding the tube in length. About ninety species are described, of which number upwards of fifty are from the Cape, and the rest from tropical Africa, the central and southern regions of Europe, Persia, the Caucasus, and the Levant. One species, G. illyricus, is found apparently wild in England, in the New Forest, Hampshire. Some of the species have been cultivated for a long period in our flower-gardens, where both the introduced species and the modern varieties bred from them are very ornamental and popular. G. segetum has been cultivated since 1596, and G. byzantinus since 1629, while many additional species were introduced during the latter half of the 18th century. One of the earlier of the hybrids originated in gardens was the beautiful G. Colvillii, raised in the nursery of Mr Colvill of Chelsea in 1823 from G. concolor fertilized by G. cardinalis. In the first decade of the century, however, the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert had successfully crossed the showy G. cardinalis with the smaller but more free-flowering G. blαndus, and the result was the production of a race of great beauty and fertility. Other crosses were made with G. tristis, G. οppositiflorus, G. hirsutus, G. alatus, and G. natalensis; but it was not till after the production of G. ...