Gladiolus carmineus

Gladiolus carmineus, the Hermanus cliff gladiolus, is a cormous perennial growing to 35 cm. Three to five trailing, sword-shaped leaves are produced during winter in years when the plant does not flower, usually alternating annually. Flowering happens at the end of summer to mid-autumn. Plants that produce leaves after flowering are called hysteranthous. In flowering years reduced leaves, seldom producing a blade, sheath the stem.

Up to six deep pink flowers, carmine as indicated by the specific name, are borne on the unbranched stem. The flowers are unscented. Only one flower is usually open at a time. The corolla is funnel-shaped, the tepals pointed or rounded with tiny protruding tips. The lower three tepals are each streaked with a white line down the centre, reaching about halfway up its length. Dark veins radiating out to the margins are visible on the tepal surfaces. Kidney-shaped yellow anthers and three pink stigma branches can be observed on the flower in picture, well above the green of the ovary.

The plant is believed to be pollinated by the Table Mountain Beauty butterfly. G. carmineus grows on coastal sandstone and maybe limestone from Hangklip to Cape Infanta, also on the cliffs immediately above the shoreline (Bean and Johns, 2005; Manning, 2007).