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  1. Family: Iridaceae Juss.

    1. Gladiolus Tourn. ex L.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is Europe to Iran, Arabian Peninsula, Africa.

    [FTEA]

    Iridaceae, Peter Goldblatt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1996

    Habit
    Perennials with corms with coriaceous to fibrous and reticulate tunics
    Leaves
    Leaves few-several, the lower (2-)3 entirely sheathing and mostly below ground (cataphylls); foliage leaves usually contemporary with the flowering stem, occasionally borne later on separate shoots, few-several, basal or cauline, blades well developed or reduced and largely to entirely sheathing, lanceolate to linear and plane or filiform and terete, the margins, midrib and sometimes other veins thickened and hyaline (margins sometimes winged)
    Stem
    Stem terete, simple or branched
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a spike, the flowers secund (distichous in a few SPECIES); bracts usually green, firm to soft, sometimes dry and brown at anthesis, relatively large, the inner usually smaller than the outer
    Flowers
    Flowers zygomorphic (actinomorphic in a few SPECIES from South Africa, Zaire and Madagascar); tepals united in a well-developed, sometimes very long tube, subequal to unequal, then the uppermost (dorsal) broader and arching to hooded over the stamens, the lower 3 narrower, shorter or longer than the dorsal
    Stamens
    Filaments unilateral and arcuate, included or exserted from the tube; anthers unilateral (symmetrical in actinomorphic flowers)
    Style
    Style exserted, the branches simple, expanded above and sometimes apically bilobed
    Fruits
    Capsules large and slightly inflated
    Seeds
    Seeds usually many, with a broad membranous circumferential wing (wingless in a few SPECIES).
    [FZ]

    Iridaceae, P. Goldblatt. Flora Zambesiaca 12:4. 1993

    Habit
    Perennial herbs with corms, aerial parts dying back annually; corms with coriaceous to fibrous and reticulate tunics.
    Leaves
    Leaves few to several, the lower (2)3 entirely sheathing and mostly below ground (cataphylls); foliage leaves usually synanthous (more or less fully developed at flowering), or hysteranthous (developing after flowering on the same shoot or borne on separate shoots), few to several, basal or cauline, blades well developed or reduced and largely to entirely sheathing, lanceolate to linear and plane or filiform and terete, the margins, midrib and sometimes also other veins thickened and hyaline (margins sometimes winged).
    Stem
    Stem terete, simple or branched.
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a spike with flowers secund or, in a few species, distichous); floral bracts usually green, soft to firm, sometimes dry and brown at anthesis, relatively large, the inner usually smaller than the outer.
    Flowers
    Flowers zygomorphic (actinomorphic in a few species from South Africa, Zaire and Madagascar); tepals united in a well developed, sometimes very long perianth tube; subequal, or unequal with the uppermost broader and arching to hooded over the stamens, the lower 3 narrower, shorter or longer than the upper.
    Stamens
    Stamens unilateral and arcuate; filaments included or exserted from the perianth tube; anthers unilateral (symmetrical in actinomorphic flowers).
    Style
    Style exserted; style branches simple, expanded above and sometimes apically bilobed.
    Fruits
    Capsules large and slightly inflated.
    Seeds
    Seeds usually many, with a broad membranous wing about the circumference (wingless in a few species).

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Albania, Algeria, Angola, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Central African Repu, Central European Rus, Chad, Congo, Corse, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Djibouti, East Aegean Is., Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kriti, Krym, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, Northwest European R, Oman, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Sinai, Somalia, South European Russi, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Arkansas, California, East Himalaya, Finland, Florida, Georgia, Great Britain, Hawaii, Jamaica, Kentucky, Louisiana, Madeira, Mississippi, North Carolina, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Western Australia

    Gladiolus Tourn. ex L. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Congo, DRC 18184.000
    Congo, DRC 18185.000
    19040.000
    19041.000
    Malawi 23534.000
    Milne-Redhead, E. [3009], Zambia 38426.000
    Brenan, J.P.M. [4945], Zambia 22823.000
    Bullock, A.A. [2345], Tanzania 23533.000
    Rico, L. [1665], Armenia K000297354
    Pollard, B.J. [334], Cameroon 77439.000

    First published in Sp. Pl.: 36 (1753)

    Accepted by

    • Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Seed Plants Database in ACCESS G: 1-40325.
    • Innes, C. (1985). The World of Iridaceae: 1-407. Holly Gare International Ltd., Ashington.

    Literature

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • F.T.A. 7: 360.
    • Sp. Pl. 36 (1753)
    Flora Zambesiaca
    • Goldblatt & de Vos in Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. sér. 4, B, Adansonia 11: 417–428 (1989).
    • G.J. Lewis et al. in J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 10: 6–316 (1972).
    • Baker in F.T.A. 7: 360 (1898).
    • Sp. Pl.: 36 (1753).
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Goldblatt, Gladiolus Trop. Afr. (1996)
    • Baker in F.T.A. 7: 360 (1898)
    • sp Pl.: 36 (1753)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0