Gladiolus watermeyeri

Gladiolus watermeyeri, commonly known in Afrikaans as the soetkalkoentjie (sweet little turkey), is a geophytic perennial reaching heights from 10 cm to 35 cm.

The corm is globose to flattened, covered in a soft, papery to membranous tunic. It becomes 15 mm to 22 mm in diameter.

The flower stem flexes above the upper leaf sheath, then curves among the flowers. Strong plants may branch their stems below the inflorescence(s), a spike bearing one to six flowers.

The species distribution straddles the Western Cape-Northern Cape border in the Bokkeveld region and to the Cederberg as far as Wuppertal.

The plants grow in rocky sandstone soils or on rock sheets. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).