Gladiolus

Where it grows

The genus is centred on South Africa, where more than 160 species occupy fynbos, grassland, and rocky habitats. Modern garden gladioli are complex hybrids developed in nineteenth-century Europe by crossing African species; commercial cut-flower production is concentrated in the Netherlands, Israel, and India.

How to recognise it

A vertical fan of stiff, sword-shaped grey-green leaves rises from each underground corm, with a single upright flower spike pushing up to one and a half metres. The funnel-shaped flowers open from bottom to top along one side of the spike, each with six tepals and a slightly asymmetric face.

Garden & cultural uses

The name derives from the Latin gladius, “small sword,” after the foliage that Romans associated with gladiators. Modern florists use gladioli as line flowers, providing vertical structure in tall arrangements. Corms must be lifted each autumn in cold-winter regions and stored frost-free until spring planting.

In culture

In the 1970s, Britain’s Dame Edna Everage made the gladiolus — affectionately “gladdies” — her signature stage prop, hurled in fistfuls into the audience.