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Gladiolus dalenii
Also called Cornflag, Natal Lily, Maid Of The Mist, Parrot Lily, Sword Lily, African Gladiolus, Dragonhead Gladiolus
Gladiolus dalenii is a widely distributed African bulb in the iris family, and the main parent of the large grandiflora hybrid gladiolus. It is grown for its tall spikes of yellow to scarlet flowers and does best in a sunny, sheltered spot with light, well-drained soil.
Gladiolus dalenii is a species of flowering plant in the iris family Iridaceae. It is one of the most widely distributed species of Gladiolus, ranging from eastern South Africa and Madagascar throughout tropical Africa and into western Arabia. It is the main parental species of the large flowering grandiflora hybrids. This species is also unusual in its genus in including diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid races. The hybrids produced from it are often tetraploids.
It produces five tall flower spikes of yellow to scarlet flowers, often streaked red over a yellow ground color, generally with a yellow throat. In cultivation, it prefers a light sandy neutral to slightly acid soil with a pH between 6.5 and 7 in a sunny sheltered position and requires a stony gritty loam.
Gladiolus × byzantinus · Cornflag · Italian gladiolus · Acidanthera · Gladioli
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gladiolus dalenii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
