Gladiolus monticola flowers

The unscented flowers of Gladiolus monticola are long-tubed and two-lipped. The perianth tube formed of unequal tepals is about 2,5 cm long. It is cylindrical at its narrow base, curving down abruptly where the tube widens before the rounded to bluntly pointed tepal lobe tips. The tips of the upper tepals recurve again, the lower ones remaining about straight.

The perianth colour is pale apricot to cream, pinkish on the outside of the upper tepals. The lower tepals have yellow median lines sometimes variably enhanced with pink markings or soft-tinted blotches on the inside.

The whitish, oblong anthers can be seen in picture, cohering inside the perianth close to the dorsal tepal. The pale style branches are positioned over the anthers, exceeding them in length slightly. The ovary is oblong, morphing into the ellipsoid to ovoid capsule.

Flowering happens during most of summer, sometimes to early autumn (Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Clarke and Mackenzie, 2007; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist).