Gladiolus virescens

Gladiolus virescens, in Afrikaans known as the geelkalkoentjie (little yellow turkey) or only kalkoentjie (little turkey) and earlier scientifically as G. bicolor and G. luteus respectively, as well as other names, is a small, cormous perennial occasionally reaching heights from 10 cm to 25 cm. The about globose corm is covered in a papery tunic that becomes fibrous and is not long-lived.

The three or four leaves are strongly ribbed, about 3 mm wide to nearly cylindrical or quill-like. The lowest leaf is the longest, sometimes twice as long as the stem. Small, membranous cataphylls that mostly don’t appear above-ground are also grown from the corm. The species is similar to G. ceresianus, but the leaves do not conceal the bottom part of the flower stem in G. virescens.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Ceres and Bot River eastwards to the Eastern Cape as far as Humansdorp. The photo was taken near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is coastal and inland renosterveld and fynbos on sandy, shale and clay flats and slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).