Gladiolus crassifolius

Gladiolus crassifolius, the small wild gladiolus or the thick-leaved gladiolus, is a cormous perennial reaching heights from 30 cm to 1 m. The corm is from 18 mm to 30 mm in diameter, its tunic leathery to coarsely fibrous.

The species distribution is widespread from East Africa southwards through Zimbabwe to South Africa where it grows in all provinces in the eastern part of the country to the Eastern Cape. The habitat is stony grassland. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The species has two forms not officially recognised: a more robust and a slender one. The robust form can be sharp pink with dark vertical stripes on the two lower tepals at the base of the flower throat, which is creamy yellow inside. The slender form flowers earlier.

Intraspecific differences are not sufficient to establish separate species, subspecies or even varieties according to current viewpoint among the decision makers on these matters. Differences in habitat may favour the survival of particular forms, starting off sometimes with only minute veering apart, following the survival challenges presented. In later plants such differences may gradually become accentuated and established as notable distinctions in the process of speciation over thousands of years and numerous generations (Manning, 2009; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; http://redlist.sanbi.org).