Iridaceae. Tribe Ixieae.
Gladiolus, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 709.
Gladiolus alatus, var. namaquensis, Baker in Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 159; G. namaquensis, Ker. in Bot. Mag. t. 592.
This plant is a variety of the Cape “Kalkoentje” (Gladiolus alatus), and might conveniently be called the “Namaqua Kalkoentje.” This particular variety has been known for almost 200 years, and in the Banksian Herbarium in the British Museum is a well-preserved specimen which was collected by Masson in Namaqualand. A figure of the plant prepared from specimens which flowered in England was published in the Botanical Magazine in 1801.
In the veld groups of plants are usually found together, each forming a corm which has developed as an offshoot from the parent corm. This character would render the plant easy of propagation.
We are indebted to Mrs. E. Rood of van Rhynsdorp for specimens which were received by the Division of Botany in September, 1921. They are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1468).
Description:—Corm covered with fibrous tunics. Stem with a basal sheath 2·5-3·5 cm. long. Leaves four, decreasing in size upwards; the outermost leaf 13-15 cm. long, 2·5-3 cm. broad; upper leaves 7-12 cm. long, ·5-2·1 cm. broad, all lanceolate, acuminate, clasping and equitant at the base, 5-nerved, with reddish margins; the innermost almost wholly clasping. Visible peduncle about 11 cm. long, 3-flowered. Outer-bracts 4 cm. long, 2 cm. broad, boat-shaped, acuminate, sharply keeled, with keel and margins reddish-brown; inner similar to the outer but bifid at the apex. Perianth-tube 1 cm. long, cylindric below, campanulate above; upper segments 2·5 cm. long, 2·2 cm. broad, ovate, subacuminate; 2 lower segments 2 cm. long, 5 mm. broad above, obovate, narrowed into a long linear claw; the lowermost segment 1·1 cm. broad, ovate, subacuminate. Filaments 1·5 cm. long, cylindric; anthers 1·3 cm. long, linear. Ovary 8 mm. long, 2·5 mm. in diameter, narrowly ellipsoid; style 3 cm. long, filiform; lobes 5 mm. long, linear, slightly broadened above, rounded and bifid at the apex.