Gladiolus oppositiflorus flower

The funnel-shaped, two-lipped flower of Gladiolus oppositiflorus has red or purple central streaks in the lower parts of the lower three tepals. Subtended by two firm-textured, often velvety bracts, the perianth tube base is narrow, curving out and expanding.

The inside of the perianth base is blotched red or purple. The elliptic to lance-shaped tepals are unequal, their margins wavy. The upper three are larger, the dorsal sagging forward. The upper lateral pair has tips spreading outwards and slightly up; the lower laterals hanging near the centre over the middle one. In picture this results in a triangular corolla with frills.

The green ovary is oblong, the fruit capsule later becoming up to 2,5 cm long and obovoid in shape.

Flowering happens in late summer and early autumn (Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist).