Gladiolus decoratus

Gladiolus decoratus is not South African, a plant of tropical Africa. The cormous perennial grows a flowering stem from about 45 cm to 80 cm tall. The corm of about 2 cm in diameter has a membranous covering becoming fibrous and matted with age.

Four or five soft-textured leaves are borne with no thickening of midrib or margins, well shorter than the inflorescence. Three leaves are usually basal, the others up the unbranched stem.

The species distribution is in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi. The habitat is rocky slopes in woodland and forest, the plants growing in sandy soil (iNaturalist; JSTOR; www.mozambiqueflora.com).