Gladiolus gueinzii Kunze

Plants (200-)300-500 mm high. Corm globose, 25-35 mm diam., with numerous cormlets around base; tunics leathery, breaking up into fibrous fragments; corms near soil surface producing larger cormlets with dark brown, thickly leathery to corky, fissured tunics. Stem suberect, often branching after flowers of main axis have faded and capsules are ripening, with clusters of cormlets at nodes, cormlets sometimes sprouting on parent plant. Leaves usually 4 to 6, mostly basal, up to 600 mm long shorter or longer than stem, linear, 4-6 mm wide, slightly succulent, only midvein evident when live but hardly thickened (when dry midrib and margins evidently thickened), upper 1 or 2 leaves sometimes entirely sheathing. Spike weakly inclined at base, not or only weakly flexuose, (2)4-to 8-flowered; bracts pale grey-green or greyish pink, outer 18-27 mm long, acute, inner slightly shorter, usually forked. Flowers zygomorphic or occasionally actinomorphic, mauve to light purple, upper 3 tepals with red-purple median streak, lower 3 with white median streaks outlined in red-purple; perianth tube ± cylindric, 13-15 mm long; tepals subequal, obovate, 17-20 x 8-10 mm, or outer 3 slightly larger and to 13 mm wide, weakly to strongly spreading distally, lower 3 tepals slightly narrowed at bases and weakly clawed. Filaments unilateral or symmetrically disposed, 7-10 mm long, exserted 1.5-3.0 mm from tube; anthers 5.5-8.0 mm long, purple; pollen grey-blue to cream-coloured. Style dividing between base and middle of anthers, branches ± 5 mm long. Capsules obovoid to ellipsoid, 26-32 mm long. Seeds oval, 10-14 x 6-10 mm, broadly and evenly winged.

Found as a pioneer on fore dunes, usually associated with Spinifex.