Published In:
Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 48: 535. 1912. ( Bot. Jahrb. Syst.)   
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(Last Modified On 1/11/2017)
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Acceptance
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Accepted
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(Last Modified On 1/11/2017)
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Description:
Plants 250–300 mm high, the leaves much exceeding the stems, with cataphyllls usually dull purple or brownish, inner lightly puberulent. Corm c. 12 mm diam.; tunics coriaceous to membranous. Leaves 3 to 5, lower 2 or 3 basal and longest (sometimes dry and broken at flowering time), tsheaths at least of lowermost sometimes puberulent, blades linear, c. 2x as long as stem, up to 300 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, main vein and margins hyaline, moderately thickened, and raised, upper 1 or 2 leaves sheathing stem in lower half, much shorter than basal, blades reaching to about base of the spike. Stem unbranched, flexed above sheath of uppermost leaf, c. 1.5 mm diam., at spike base. Spike 2- to 4-flowered, inclined c. 30 degrees; bracts apparently green below, membranous, dry and light brown in upper half, 13–15 mm long, inner about as long as outer. Flowers of unknown color, probably red; perianth tube more or less cylindric, widening and curving outward near apex, c. 10 mm long; tepals subequal, narrowly obovate, c. 21 mm long (often less when dry), dorsal arched over stamens, lower 3 inclined toward ground. Filaments arcuate, 12–15 mm long, exserted 6–9 mm from tube; anthers c. 5 mm long. Ovary obovoid, c. 3 mm long; style arching over filaments, dividing at about mid anther level, branches c. 3 mm long, reaching to about anther apices. Capsules and seeds unknown. Flowering time: May.
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Democratic Republic of the Congo Provinces:
Katanga (Shaba)
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Distribution and ecology:
apparently restricted to the Marungu Mtns of southeastern Katanga in Congo (DR) and recorded only from Mt. Senga and Mt. Munda; evidently in rocky places, probably close to the summits (higher ridges and peaks of the Marungus reach elevations of 2000 to 2400 m).
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Diagnosis:
distinguished by its three to five relatively long, linear leaves, 1.5–2 mm wide, about twice as long as the spikes. The stems are fairly short, 20–40 cm high and inclined toward the ground in the upper half. The flowers are notable in having subequal oblanceolate tepals. It has been regarded as conspecific with Gladiolus erectiflorus but the resemblance is superficial, the two probably having little in common. Vegetatively, G. erectiflorus differs in always being glabrous and in having lanceolate, rarely linear, leaves with the margins and midrib only weakly thickened. The leaves are also usually shorter than the stems, or occasionally exceed them by only 3 to 5 mm, unlike the much longer leaves of G. linearifolius. The stems of G. erectiflorus are erect, and minor floral differences include the length of the anthers, 6–7 mm long, the generally longer floral bracts, 20–40 mm long, and the lanceolate, acute tepals. In G. linearifolius the anthers are 5 mm long and the bracts 13–15 mm long. More likely, G. linearifolius is immediately related to the southwestern Tanzanian endemic, G. sulcatus, which has a similar overall appearance despite its being a more robust species. It also has long linear leaves that much exceed the stems, inclined spikes, and leaf margins and midribs thickened, even more strongly than in G. linearifolius. The two also have subequal, oblanceolate tepals, and lightly pubescent upper cataphylls and lower leaf sheaths.
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