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Published In: Gladiolus in Southern Africa 250–251. 1998. (Gladiolus Southern Afr.) Name publication detail
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 6/6/2016)
Acceptance : Accepted
Taxon Profile     (Last Modified On 1/3/2017)
Description: Plants 250–500(–700) mm high. Corm globose, 10–20 mm diam.; tunics papery, becoming fibrous. Stem erect, lightly flexed above sheaths of upper 1 or 2 leaves, unbranched. Leaves 3(4), lower 2 basal, lowermost sheathing lower 1/3 to 1/2 of stem, short, rarely longer, linear, up to 100 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, leathery or subsucculent, with 3 equal veins, margins not raised or thickened, remaining leaves inserted between middle and upper 1/3 of stem, progressively shorter. Spike flexed at base and inclined, flexuose, 1–3(5)-flowered; bracts green or greyish, soft-textured, outer 27–40(–45) mm long, inner shorter to ± as long. Flowers cream to white, sometimes with small speckles or faint red-brown streaks in throat or on tepals, with light, somewhat metallic, dusty sweet scent; perianth tube narrowly and obliquely funnel-shaped, (35–)45–65 mm long, lower cylindric part 25–42 mm long, gradually expanding in upper part; tepals ovate, margins lightly undulate, subequal, dorsal slightly larger, 23–35 × 12–21 mm, extending ± horizontally over stamens, upper laterals curving outward distally, 23–39 × 9–14 mm, lower 3 tepals joined to upper laterals for 5–6 mm and together for 1–2 mm, free parts 21–31 × 1–13 mm, curving downward distally. Filaments 12–15 mm long, exserted 3–6 mm from tube; anthers 9–12 mm long, cream; pollen yellow. Style arching over stamens, dividing close to or shortly beyond anther apices, branches 3–5 mm long. Capsules and seeds unknown. Flowering time: March to May, occasionally in February.
Country: South Africa
South African Province: Eastern Cape
Distribution and ecology: a narrow endemic of Eastern Cape, from Port Elizabeth to Alexandria and inland to Somerset East; on grassy slopes.
Diagnosis: distinguished from Gladiolus maculatus, in which it was once included as a subspecies, by the unmarked, white to cream flowers with mostly longer perianth tube, (35–)45–65 mm long and well exserted from the bracts.

 
 
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