Quick Characteristics:
Flower Colors: | purple, blue |
Flower Season: | mid spring |
Climate: | summer or winter rain climates |
Gladiolus rogersii Baker grows to 60 cm and has narrow leaves with a prominent midrib. Flowers are blue to purple with yellow or white transverse markings on the lower tepals. In the Kammanassie Mountains flowers can be cerise-pink. This is a widespread South African species found on sandstone and limestone slopes in winter and year round rainfall areas and mostly blooms in spring. There are variants that flower from autumn to early winter on the foothills of the mountains in the Little Karoo. The first two photos and information from the book Plants of the Klein Karoo courtesy of Jan and Anne Lise Schutte-Vlok. The third photo by Mary Sue Ittner was taken of a plant growing on a slope east of Swellendam. Most of the flowers had been eaten by an insect. Photos 4-6 were taken by Alan Horstmann.