Gladiolus dolichosiphon

Quick Characteristics:

Gladiolus dolichosiphon Goldblatt & J.C-Manning was first described in 2009, after a first collection from 1986 wasn't correctly identified as new species. It grows on seasonally wet places on cool south-facing slopes in altitudes above 1300 m in the western little Karoo. The flower spike holding 4 to 7 seven pink to creamy salmon unscented flowers with the lower three tepals each with a pale lozenge-shaped median mark outlined in dark red may have up to two lateral branches. It is a member of the long tubed pink flowered Gladiolus carneus complex but is distinguished from that group by its 5 or 6 linear leaves, creamy pink to salmon flowers with a tube 30-50 mm long and longer than the dorsal tepal, and its late summer flowering (late January to mid February). The first photo from Rachel Saunders was taken the second year after a fire, January 2017. The second photo from the book Plants of the Klein Karoo courtesy of Jan and Anne Lise Schutte-Vlok.