Quick Characteristics:
| Height: | 45-80 cm (1.5-2.6 ft) |
| Flower Colors: | pink |
| Climate: | summer rain climate |
Gladiolus saxatilis Goldblatt & J.C.Manning, syn. Gladiolus lithicola Goldblatt & J.C.Manning, is a narrow endemic of the summer rainfall region where it occurs between Mariepskop and Graskop along the lower Drakensberg escarpment of Mpumalanga growing in shady places on sandstone rocks and cliffs of black reef quartzite. Growing from 45 to 80 cm high, it has six to ten fan like relatively broad (18 to 35 mm) soft textured leaves reaching to the base and middle of the spike and a slightly inclined spike of 9 to 16 relatively large pale pink to mauve unscented flowers. The lower tepals have weakly defined pale mauve, linear diamond shaped median nectar guides and the perianth tube is narrowly and obliquely funnel shaped. The floral bracts are purplish when young, becoming dry and rust-colored after flowering which occurs mid March to late April, possibly into May. Photos from Rachel Saunders.
