Gladiolus carneus

Gladiolus carneus is commonly known as the large painted lady, the painted lady or the white Afrikaner and in Afrikaans the bergpypie (little mountain pipe). It is a perennial growing from an about globose corm in a tunic of papery layers, the plant in flower reaching heights from 25 cm to 60 cm.

There is a notably long list of older botanical names in the literature for this Gladiolus. Many generations have admired the flower and changed their minds about what to call it. But as some of the locals will tell you, don’t call it, it will never come!

Four or five sword-shaped leaves are usually produced, the bottom two or three often in a fan, the others smaller up the stem. The leaf tips reach at least the base of the inflorescence, although the blades may trail. The midrib and another vein or two are thickened in each blade. Cataphylls are also present, short, pale and membranous.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape, occurring from the Cape Peninsula northwards to around Ceres and eastwards to around Riversdale. The photo is from near Betty’s Bay at the end of October.

The habitat is seasonally damp lower slopes in rocky fynbos. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Marais, (Ed.), 2017; Manning, 2009; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).