Gladiolus woodii flower

A Gladiolus woodii flower is obliquely funnel-shaped, about 2,5 cm in diameter. Flower colour is variable, including red-brown, maroon, yellow, pale blue or lilac.

In picture the three lower tepals are lined, the laterals small enough to lie on the central one, channelled and notched at their tips. These lower lateral tepals usually have longitudinal, central streaks in purple or brown, on other plants unmarked. On the maroon or red flowering plants as the one shown here, this tepal pair is yellow and maroon-lined down the centre.

There is a hint of crisped tepal margins in parts of the flower, while vein lines are distinct in some petal patches. The filaments are nearly black here, the style branches nearly white.

Flowering happens in spring and early summer (Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Pooley, 1998; Trauseld, 1969; iNaturalist).