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  1. Family: Iridaceae Juss.
    1. Genus: Gladiolus Tourn. ex L.

      1. Gladiolus dichrous (Bullock) Goldblatt

        This species is accepted, and its native range is South Sudan to W. Kenya.

    [FTEA]

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

    Habit
    Plants 45-90 cm. high.
    Corms
    Corm 2.5-3 cm. in diameter, the tunics membranous or ± fibrous.
    Leaves
    Leaves ± 5, mostly basal, at least the uppermost inserted well above the ground, and sheathing for ± 1/2 its length, the lower leaves reaching to ± the base of the spike, narrowly lanceolate, 9-15(-20) mm. wide, neither the midrib not the margins noticeably thickened.
    Stem
    Stem usually unbranched, occasionally with up to 3 lateral branches, 4-6 mm. in diameter at the base of the spike.
    Inflorescences
    Spike (6-)9-15-flowered, straight below, arched outward above; bracts 3.5-5.5(-7) cm. long, imbricate, usually red or reddish-purple (uniformly white in the only known population from Kenya).
    Flowers
    Flowers either predominantly white, but the lower 3 tepals greenish at least apically, the distal parts of the dorsal tepals sometimes flushed reddish, or in plants from northern Uganda and Sudan, the tepals bright red to orange; perianth-tube ± 3.5 cm. long, the lower part straight and slender, the upper part curved at base and horizontal or ascending, ± 2 cm. long, also cylindric; tepals unequal, the dorsal largest, (1.2-)1.4-1.8 cm. long, extending horizontally, upper laterals 8-10 mm. long, the lower tepals 5-7 mm. long, nearly linear and extending forward.
    Stamens
    Filaments ± 4 cm. long, exserted ± 1 cm. from the tube; anthers 7-8 mm. long, ultimately exceeding the dorsal tepal.
    Style
    Style dividing opposite the middle of the anthers, the branches 5-7 mm. long.
    Fruits
    Capsules ovoid, ± 1.5 cm. long.
    Habitat
    Mountains, usually in rock oucrops, sometimes on cliffs; 2500-3000 m.; flowering June to August
    Distribution
    K3 U1 U3

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Kenya, Sudan, Uganda

    Gladiolus dichrous (Bullock) Goldblatt appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Lankester, C.H. [s.n.], Uganda K000320767 holotype

    First published in Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., B, Adansonia 11: 426 (1989 publ. 1990)

    Accepted by

    • Darbyshire, I., Kordofani, M., Farag, I., Candiga, R. & Pickering, H. (eds.) (2015). The Plants of Sudan and South Sudan: 1-400. Kew publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    • Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Seed Plants Database in ACCESS G: 1-40325.

    Literature

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Goldblatt, Gladiolus Trop. Afr.: 266 (1996).
    • Goldblatt in Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat., ser. 4, 11: 426 (1989).

    Sources

    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.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. 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 2020. 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