Super-corrugated gladiolus in Aptekarsky Ogorod

From August 18 to August 20, inclusive, the annual exhibition of gladioli will be held in the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University “Pharmaceutical Garden”. The Moscow Gladiolus Club will present gladiolus varieties and hybrids of both domestic and foreign selection, including new items.

All flowers are grown by members of the club in the conditions of the Moscow region and nearby regions. Visitors will be able to admire the variety of shades – white, black, green, blue, chestnut, brown gladioli. Along with the traditional white, pink, red, visitors will also be able to appreciate the gladioli with tints, borders, bright contrasting spots, as well as multicolored ones.

By the size of the inflorescences and the size of the flower, you can see miniature, small, medium, large-flowered and giant plants.

Visitors will be pleasantly surprised by the appearance of gladioli with an original and exotic flower shape, a rare combination of shades, ruffled, super-ruffled, and also with a fringe along the edge of the petals.

The guests will also be attracted by the new hybrids of the leading breeders of the club: Baranova A. B., Vasilyeva S. A., Kuznetsova M. A., Shevchenko T. D. Many of these hybrids do not yet have names, but there is confidence that they will take a worthy place in modern catalogs of gladioli.

Gladiolus, or skewer, is a genus of perennial bulbous bulbous plants of the Iris family. The Latin (and Russian too) name comes from lat. gladius – “sword” and is due to the fact that the leaves of the gladiolus are shaped like swords. Homeland – tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, the Mediterranean, Central Europe and Asia, Western Siberia. The genus includes over 280 species and over 5000 varieties.

About 300 BC. e. corms of gladioli were eaten by baking them or using them as a base for cakes, grinding them together with onions. In the 1st century A.D. e. gladioli are mentioned by Pliny in connection with their supposedly magical power to save a warrior from death and bring victory. To achieve this goal, the warrior needed to hang a gladiolus corm around his neck as an amulet. South African species of gladiolus appeared in Europe only in the 17th century, becoming the ancestor of most modern varieties. In 1807, the Englishman William Herbert obtained the first interspecific gladiolus hybrids by crossing several South African species. It was then that the decorative interest in gladioli was born.

Nina DONSKIKH.

Photo by Moskovskaya Pravda