GLADIOLUS
Updated 05-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about GLADIOLUS!
Gladiolus Tourn. ex L. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science: This genus is accepted, and its native range is Europe to Iran, Arabian Peninsula, Africa.
Gladioli (Genus Gladiolus): Gladiolus (from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword,) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). (Source: Wikipedia, ”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiolus, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) Julio Eiroa – NatureandPhoto, all rights reserved)
August Birth Flowers: August birth month flowers and their meanings, gladiolus, poppy from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Gladiolus (from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae) it is sometimes the spectacular giant flower spikes in commerce are the products of centuries of hybridisation and selection . the flowers are large and one-sided, with secund, bisexual flowers, each subtended by 2 leathery, green bracts the style has three filiform, spoon-shaped branches, each expanding towards the apex . the south africa species were originally pollinated by long-tongued anthophorini bees in the temperate zones of Europe many of the hybrid large flowering sorts of gladiolus can be pollinated by small well-known wasps . about 10 species are native to Eurasia . the genus Gladiolus has been divided into many sections . most species, however, are only tentatively placed . ‘Nanus’ is hardy to Zones 5–8 . large-flowered types require moisture during the growing season . the leaves must be allowed to die down naturally before lifting and storing the corms thrips and wasps burrow into the flowers causing them to collapse and die .Numerous garden cultivars have been developed, of which ‘Robinetta’ has won the Royal Horticultural Society’ the winter-growing Gladioli of Southern Africa. Tafelberg-Uitgewers Beperk 120 colour photographs and descriptions. Peter Goldblatt (1996). A monograph of the genus Gladiolus in tropical “Gladiolus”. African plants – a Photo Guide. Frankfurt/Main: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg.