Gladiolus crassifolius flowers

The sessile, unscented flowers of Gladiolus crassifolius are each subtended by two bracts that are initially soft and pale green or flushed purple, later membranous and dry at fruiting.

The perianth tube is obliquely funnel-shaped, from cylindrical at the base to wide and curving down at the tepal tips. The unequal tepals of the two-lipped flower are broadly ovate. The dorsal tepal is largest, arching over the stamens and style. The inner three tepals with pointed tips in picture have more blue-purple in their upper parts than the outer three that are narrowly striped to their tips. The inner ones are pale pink inside the corolla cup.

The stamens are exserted, the anthers up to 8 mm long, purple with whitish to pale yellow pollen. Long-tongued bees are important in pollination of the species. Flowering happens late in summer and early in autumn.

The three-lobed fruit capsule is egg-shaped, widest near its tip, about 12 mm long. The elliptic seeds are broadly and transparently winged around their bodies, a seed up to 6 mm long (Manning, 2009; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998).