Gladiolus longicollis subsp. longicollis

Gladiolus longicollis subsp. longicollis, commonly the honey-flower, is a cormous perennial reaching 60 cm in height. The corm is covered in a wiry fibrous tunic. The leaves are thin, long and cylindrical. 

From one to four flowers usually grow in the spike. One flower opens at a time, mostly from dusk to dawn and often better in fog. The cream to pale yellow flowers often have variable brown lines and speckles on the tepals. The tepal tips attenuate, on this specimen creamy with a tinge of olive and various markings in purple with tiny black speckles near the tips. The sweet fragrance and pale colouring of the flowers attract nocturnal hawkmoths as pollinators. Blooming happens in spring, starting from before midspring.

The specific and subspecific name longicollis is derived from the Latin words longus meaning long and collum meaning the neck, referring to the long perianth tubes.

The subspecies distribution is easterly, in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, a little into the Western Cape and the Free State. It also occurs in Lesotho. This plant overlaps in distribution with G. longicollis subsp. platypetalus that is found in a more northeasterly region.

The habitat is grassland. The habitat populations of both subspecies are deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; iSpot; www.academic.sun.ac.za; http://redlist.sanbi.org).