Gladiolus ecklonii

Gladiolus ecklonii is a cormous perennial reaching heights from 15 cm to 70 cm. The unbranched stem is erect in its lowest third, inclined above that.

The leaves are sword-shaped, forming a fan from the plant base, the shorter, outer leaves only membranous cataphylls. There may be six to nine normal leaves, rarely up to thirteen. 

Around ten flowers may form the the inflorescence, a spike seen in summer and up to mid-autumn. A pair of large, silvery keeled or double-keeled, green or partly reddish bracts envelop the flower at its base, the outer one bigger.

The hooded, fragrant flowers of this, the common speckled gladiolus, are white, speckled with many tiny pink, red, maroon or brown spots. These corolla spots, scattered along the tepals also vary in number and size. The tube at the corolla base is up to 2 cm long. It is obliquely funnel-shaped. The tepals may be broad with inconspicuous tips, or wavy and acutely tipped.

The species distribution is in the east of South Africa, from the Eastern Cape across KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State to Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as in Lesotho and Eswatini. The photo was taken in Mpumalanga.

The habitat is open grassland. The species is not considered threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).