Gladiolus leptosiphon flower

The long-tubed flowers of Gladiolus leptosiphon grow on erect stems, usually flexed outwards above the uppermost stem-leaf. The straight, inclined spike may be branched.

The two-lipped flowers are cream to pale yellow. The lower three tepals are smaller, marked in maroon to purple in their lower halves. The upper three unmarked tepals curve out, the biggest one central in the inner whorl. This tepal, the dorsal one tapers to a truncated tip in picture. The three dark blue-purple anthers are borne against the dorsal tepal.

Flowering happens in the middle part of spring.

The specific name, leptosiphon, is derived from two Greek words, siphon, now also an English word and leptos meaning thin, referring to the long thin corolla tube (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; iNaturalist).