Gladiolus floribundus

Gladiolus floribundus is a perennial growing from a globose corm and reaching heights from 25 cm to 60 cm when flowering.

The six to eight leaves are broadly sword-shaped, up to 2 cm wide with thickened margins. A few of them are stem-leaves, smaller and decreasing in size up the stem. The stem is erect, flexed outwards above the sheath of the uppermost leaf.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cederberg coastally and through the Little Karoo to around Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken at Minwater near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is dry clay, sandy or limestone flats and slopes of shrubveld and renosterveld. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; iNaturalist; https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).