Gladiolus longicollis subsp. platypetalus

Gladiolus longicollis subsp. platypetalus grows in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Gauteng, including the Witwatersrand. This flower was spotted south of Dullstroom in October.

The perennial geophyte grows annual leaves and flowers from an underground corm covered in a fibrous tunic. This species produces only one basal leaf with the flower stalk.

There is a second subspecies, G. longicollis subsp. longicollis, also shown in this Album. It has a more southerly distribution area, southern KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape and a shorter flower tube (Lowrey and Wright, 1987).