| Gladiolus
oppositiflorus, also known as the Transkei Gladiolus, is just one
of an extensive number of Gladiolus species to be found in Sub-Saharan
Africa, particularly in regions south of the Tropic of Capricorn.
In fact this part of the world is considered to be the main centre
of distribution for the genus with more than 160 species listed,
many of them endemics which occupy very restricted ranges.
This inevitably means that many species are currently threatened
by road building, overgrazing and holiday development.
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| In
the early twentieth century Gladiolus oppositifolius made its
contribution to the genetics of today's hybrid cultivars but it
has to be said that almost all the original wild species are very
garden worthy in their own right. Just like orchids, the flowers
of many gladioli are adapted to a particular strategy of
pollination possibly involving a moth, a bee, or a sunbird so that
consequently, just as with orchids, this
specialisation has resulted in a spellbinding array of floral
pattern, colour, and form.
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| The gladiolus featured here is an
endemic species occurring on the Transkei Wild Coast which is in
the summer rainfall region of the Eastern Cape where it is to be
found growing in open grassland and along streams.
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| I have grown
G.oppositiflorus for a number of years on damp but well drained
banks which receive the greatest amounts of sunshine. The leaves
predictably appear in mid-September, and by early October the
plants are in full flower. The seed I initially used was from
Silverhill Seeds and was referable to the subspecies 'salmoneus'
but I've noticed that the flower colour of respective plants
can vary from a deep pink to a quite silvery pink and I understand
that the subspecific rank may no longer be valid.
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| My plants rarely set seed, possibly because of the scarcity of
sunbirds in Northern Ireland and my attempts to grow other wild
species have not always been successful, however I notice that at
least two U.K. nurseries are now offering corms of a number of the
rarer species and maybe this range will increase as this beautiful
genus becomes popular.
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references
www.plantzafrika.com
The
Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs, Manning,Goldblatt,and
Snijman : Timber
Press 2002
The Iris Family
: Natural History and Classification, Goldblatt & Manning
: Timber Press 2008
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