Gladiolus brevifolius

Gladiolus brevifolius, commonly in Afrikaans the herfspypie (little autumn pipe), is a slender, cormous perennial reaching heights from 12 cm to 85 cm.

The globose corm covered in several leathery layers of tunic that decay into coarse, vertical fibres becomes up to 35 cm in diameter. Some of the pale, membranous cataphylls protrude slightly above-ground.

Up to three leaves that do not overlap sheathe the unbranched stem, becoming up to 70 cm long but often shorter. The specific name, brevifolius, is derived from the Latin words brevis meaning short or small and folium meaning a leaf, referring to the short leaves.

The linear to narrowly lance-shaped leaves are more often hairy than not. The leaves are usually dry by bloomtime, which is autumn. Some plants may produce a leaf from a separate shoot later in the growing season.

The species distribution is in the far southwest of the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula to Clanwilliam, Montagu and Bredasdorp. The photo was taken at Hanneshoek near Kleinmond.

The habitat is winter rainfall, stony fynbos slopes in shale, clay and sandstone. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Andrew, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).