Quick Characteristics:
| Flower Colors: | purple |
Gladiolus byzantinus is considered to be a synonym of Gladiolus communis by The Plant List and the Kew checklist. Angelo Porcelli makes a case for it to be considered a species in its own right in his paper Gladiolus of Southern Italy. In this paper he describes the differences between it and Gladiolus communis and Gladiolus italicus. This paper also shows the difference between the seeds and the corms. This species grows up to 40 inches (100 cm). The central tepal of the three lower tepals is visibly longer and even wider than Gladiolus communis. The upper central tepal points up and the mid tepals are rhomboid shaped. It is usually a dark rich purple. Gladiolus byzantinus has large winged seeds of about 1 cm. The corm tunics dissolve (separate) at the apex with parallel and much wider veins. Photos by Angelo Porcelli.
