Gladiolus saundersii floral interior

Inside this scarlet Gladiolus saundersii flower the dense red speckling on the lower tepals doesn’t reach all the way to the top of the white parts. The flowers differ much in details of these markings.

All the tepal tips curve back, some strongly, while only the dorsal one is concave in its lower part. This is where the style arches and splits into three pale branches. The three stamens are shorter below the style, the anthers here resembling stylish shoes, but three?

The filaments are dull yellow, reddish near the top. The curving anthers are red on top, striped white and black below (Pooley, et al, 2025; Manning, 2009; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Pooley, 1998; Trauseld, 1969; iNaturalist).