Tritonia gladiolaris flower

The stalkless flowers of Tritonia gladiolaris grow in a lax spike, from 5 to 15 of them per inflorescence. They are funnel-shaped and two-lipped, the corolla tube longer than 1 cm.

Flower colours range from cream and pale yellow to apricot with dark lines upon both tepal surfaces. The three stamens and three-branched style can just be seen in the photo, up against the dorsal tepal. The lower three tepals are smaller than the upper ones, especially the dominant dorsal tepal. Flowering happens from late winter to end summer, but best blooming occurs in spring.

The fruit is an elongated capsule between 3 mm to 8 mm long; first green, then brown and dehiscent when ripe (Pooley, 1998; Manning, 2009; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org).