There are about 163 species of Gladiolus (with new ones being discovered) in the area south of the Tropic of Capricorn and including Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Mozambique. Some are found in winter rainfall areas and some in summer rainfall areas. For more information see Goldblatt and Manning, 1998. Southern African species from A-B are pictured on this page.
Gladiolus index - Southern African gladiolus Ca - Southern African gladiolus Ce-E - Southern African gladiolus F-H - Southern African gladiolus I-Me - Southern African gladiolus Mi-Pa - Southern African gladiolus Pe-R - Southern African gladiolus S-T - Southern African gladiolus U-Z - Gladiolus Hybrids - Miscellaneous gladiolus
Gladiolus abbreviatus (syn. Homoglossum abbreviatum) is an odd species with grossly unequal dark red to brown tepals. It is pollinated by sunbirds and occurs in the southwestern Cape where it is found in clay and shale banks in renosterveld. Although in the book above it is described as usually having 4 to 6 flowers my plants grown from seed only have a couple and ones seen in the wild also did not have very many flowers. The first photo was taken by Mary Sue Ittner of seed grown plants and the last three in habitat by Cameron McMaster near Napier in the Overberg.
Gladiolus acuminatus is an endangered species known from no more than five locations. It is endemic to the Overberg, where it grows in stony shale on flats and in renosterveld. It has a long perianth tube and pale greenish cream fragrant flowers. Photo by Alan Horstmann.
Gladiolus alatus is a winter rainfall species found on flats, slopes, and plateaus, mainly in sand. It is orange marked yellow. The first picture was taken near Paarl September 2003 by Bob Rutemoeller. The next two pictures were taken by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner near Bainskloof September 2006. The last picture by Mary Sue Ittner show flowers on a plant grown from seed blooming March 2005.
The white form seen near Villiersdorp. Photo by Mary Sue Ittner. The second photo by Bob Rutemoeller shows one for sale in a nursery in Caledon.
Gladiolus angustus is found in wet places on sandstone soils in the northwest and southwest Cape. It blooms in spring with cream to pale pink flowers with reddish diamond-shaped markings on the lower tepals. Photos by Mary Sue Ittner. Some of the plants I grow have no markings, some light markings, and some deep markings.
Gladiolus antholyzoides is distributed across the central and eastern high veld of South Africa. Flowers are yellow, sometimes streaked with red or orange and with an orange ring around the throat. This species was once included in Antholyza as Antholyza laxiflora and Antholyza schlechteri, presumably because of its long perianth tube. It has also had other Gladiolus species names.
Gladiolus aquamontanus is a local endemic found on streams and wet cliffs in the Swartberg Mountains in the Western Cape. A winter rainfall plant, it grows from 40 to 100 cm and has sword-shaped leaves with lightly thickened margins and midribs. The mauve pink flowers are in a 4 to 8 flowered spike. The lower three tepals have a dark purple median streak in the lower two thirds. Flowers are unscented and bloom time is late spring to summer. One of the pbs list members who grows it has found that it never wants to be completely dry. Photo from Rod Saunders.
Gladiolus arcuatus grows in the dry western part of the winter rainfall area of South Africa. In Namaqualand this species grows among low shrubs in granite derived gravel and in fine grained silt in areas to the south. It has flowers that are dull grey purple, brownish or dark purple, with the lower three tepals yellow in the lower two thirds with the distal third dark purple fading to light grey purple. The dorsal tepal is largest, horizontal and arching forward. Flowers are very fragrant and probably pollinated by long tongued bees. The first photo below could be this species. It was seen in early September 2006 in Namaqualand in the right habitat. The second photo taken earlier that year was taken at Rod and Rachel Saunders' property at Brackenfell. They often sprinkle seed about. I think it also could be this species. Photos 1-2 taken by Mary Sue Ittner. Photo #3 taken by Rod Saunders.
Gladiolus aureus is endangered. It is found in the wild today in only a single location, a peaty seep on a rocky sandstone slope in the Southwest Cape. There are reportedly as few as ten plants remaining at this location. It has bright yellow flowers. The first photo was taken by Rachel Saunders August 2012 at its only known locality. There were five flowering plants surrounded by alien vegetation, houses and destruction. Photos 2-4 were taken by Bob Werra and the last photo by Michael Mace.
Gladiolus blandus see Gladiolus carneus
Gladiolus bonaspei Goldblatt & De Vos (as Gladiolus bonaespei) is a species that has had many different names with a new one expected shortly. Although Kew spells the species name Gladiolus bonaespei which is the spelling used when it was named, Goldblatt and Manning in Gladiolus in Southern Africa corrected the spelling to Gladiolus bonaspei. Other synonyms are Homoglossum merianellum (Thunb.) Baker, Homoglossum merianellum (Thunb.) Baker var. aureum G.J.Lewis, and Petamenes pilosus (Klatt) Goldblatt. It has also been known as Watsonia pilosa. According to John Manning the name is soon to change back to Gladiolus merianellus (L.) Thunb. The name is for [Cape] of Good Hope. This species grows on sandy flats and slopes in the Southwest Cape. It has 2 to 7 orange, rarely yellow flowers. Flowers held up very well during a wet period in February when they bloomed and over the course of the blooming period the color changed slightly from all orange to orange with yellow tones. The first three photos are by Mary Sue Ittner and the following two are by Dylan Hannon of the first flowering of his seed-grown plants 10 years after sowing.
Gladiolus brevifolius blooms in fall before producing leaves and has small pink, gray or brownish flowers with yellow markings on the lower tepals. It is found on sandstone and shale slopes in the north and south western Cape. The first two photos of garden grown plants by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller. The last picture was taken near Napier in the Overberg by Cameron McMaster.
Gladiolus buckerveldii is a species restricted to a few sites along permanent rives in the northern Cedarberg of the western Cape. Plants grow out of nearly vertical moss covered cliffs. Growing from 80 to 125 cm, it has a horizontal spike of 12 to 20 ivory to greenish cream flowers, each with a spade or heart shaped dark red mark in the center of the lower tepals. It flowers in summer. In the past it was included in Antholyza as Antholyza buckerveldii because of its elongate floral tube (wide and cylindric above and slender below) and then was moved to Petamenes. In 1971 it was included in Gladiolus.
Gladiolus bullatus is found on sandstone slopes in fynbos in the southwest Cape and the Agulhas plain. This species is reported to be difficult in cultivation. It has bell-like blue flowers with yellow markings and is hooded. The first photo by Bob Rutemoeller was taken at Boskloof, the second and third by Cameron McMaster in the Overberg, and the last a close-up from Alan Horstmann .
Gladiolus index - Southern African gladiolus Ca - Southern African gladiolus Ce-E - Southern African gladiolus F-H - Southern African gladiolus I-Me - Southern African gladiolus Mi-Pa - Southern African gladiolus Pe-R - Southern African gladiolus S-T - Southern African gladiolus U-Z - Gladiolus Hybrids - Miscellaneous gladiolus