Gladiolus sericeovillosus subsp. sericeovillosus

Gladiolus sericeovillosus subsp. sericeovillosus, commonly known as the large speckled gladiolus, the shaggy-stemmed cornflag and in Afrikaans the bloupypie (little blue pipe), is a cormous perennial reaching heights from 35 cm to 1,5 m, solitary or in small colonies. The specific name sericeovillosus (Latin) means silky haired. The silky hairs can be seen on the green bracts below the corollas.

The sword-like leaves form a basal fan. They are shorter than the flower stalk. There may also be a few leaves on the stem, shorter than the basal ones.

The species distribution is in the east of South Africa, from the Eastern Cape through the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga, on both sides of and in the Drakensberg. Also in some neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe. The photo was taken near Howick during January.

The habitat is summer rainfall grassland from near the coast to elevations around 1750 m. The habitat population is of least concern early in the twenty first century. 

 Another subspecies, G. sericeovillosus subsp. calvatus, is also found in Zimbabwe (Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; iSpot; www.apps.kew.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).