Gladiolus

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Gladiolus (from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword<ref name="Perry"/>) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae).<ref name=Goldblatt2008>Template:Cite book</ref>

Gladiolus Italicus, Behbahan
Gladiolus italicus, Behbahan, Iran

It is sometimes called the 'sword lily', but is usually called by its generic name (plural gladioli).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The genus occurs in Asia, Mediterranean Europe, South Africa, and tropical Africa. The center of diversity is in the Cape Floristic Region.<ref name="GM">Goldblatt, P. &, J.C. Manning. Gladiolus in Southern Africa : Systematics, Biology, and Evolution. Fernwood Press, Cape Town; 1998.</ref> The genera Acidanthera, Anomalesia, Homoglossum, and Oenostachys, formerly considered distinct, are now included in Gladiolus.<ref name="GdV">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Description

Gladioli grow from round, symmetrical corms<ref name=Hodkinson/> (similar to crocuses) that are enveloped in several layers of brownish, fibrous tunics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Their stems are generally unbranched, producing 1 to 9 narrow, sword-shaped, longitudinal grooved leaves, enclosed in a sheath.<ref name="Perry">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The lowest leaf is shortened to a cataphyll. The leaf blades can be plane or cruciform in cross section. The adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the leaf exhibit micro-striations with aligned micro-protrusions, which are coated with waxy nano-flakes. This three-level surface structure enables the leaf to shed rainfall droplets in a unidirectional manner due to anisotropic superhydrophobicity features, as reported by Mahesh C. Dubey et al. <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The flowers of unmodified wild species vary from very small to perhaps 40 mm across, and inflorescences bearing anything from one to several flowers. The spectacular giant flower spikes in commerce are the products of centuries of hybridisation and selection.

The flower spikes are large and one-sided, with secund, bisexual flowers, each subtended by 2 leathery, green bracts. The sepals and the petals are almost identical in appearance, and are termed tepals. They are united at their base into a tube-shaped structure. The dorsal tepal is the largest, arching over the three stamens. The outer three tepals are narrower. The perianth is funnel-shaped, with the stamens attached to its base. The style has three filiform, spoon-shaped branches, each expanding towards the apex.<ref name=dissect> William Berman Template:Google books</ref>

The ovary is 3-locular with oblong or globose capsules,<ref name=dissect/> containing many, winged brown, longitudinally dehiscent seeds.

Wild Gladiolus, Behbahan, Iran
Gladiolus italicus, Behbahan, Iran

These flowers are variously coloured, ranging from pink to reddish or light purple with white, contrasting markings, or white to cream or orange to red.<ref name=Mujib/>

Taxonomy

The genus Gladiolus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 with the name attributed to Joseph Pitton de Tournefort.<ref name=POWO_30066908-2>Template:Cite POWO</ref>

Species

There are about 260 species of Gladiolus endemic to southern Africa,<ref name=Hodkinson>Trevor R. Hodkinson and John A.N. Parnell (Editors) Template:Google books</ref> and about 76 in tropical Africa. About 10 species are native to Eurasia.<ref name=Geophytes>Rina Kamenetsky and Hiroshi Okubo (Editors) Template:Google books</ref> The genus has been divided into many sections. Most species, however, are only tentatively placed.

Template:As of, Plants of the World Online accepted almost 300 species and hybrids:<ref name=POWO_30066908-2/>

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Natural and artificial hybrids include:<ref name=POWO_30066908-2/>

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Ecology

The South African species were originally pollinated by long-tongued anthophorini bees,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> but some changes in the pollination system have occurred, allowing pollination by sunbirds, noctuid and Hawk-moths, long-tongued flies and several others.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In the temperate zones of Europe many of the hybrid large flowering sorts of gladiolus can be pollinated by small well-known wasps. Actually, they are not very good pollinators because of the large flowers of the plants and the small size of the wasps. Another insect in this zone which can try some of the nectar of the gladioli is the best-known European Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum which usually pollinates many popular garden flowers like Petunia, Zinnia, Dianthus and others.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Gladioli are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Large Yellow Underwing,<ref>David J. Carter Template:Google books</ref> and gladiolus thrips.<ref name="Lloyd"/>

Horticulture

Wild Gladiolus Italicus Bulbs of Different Ages/Sizes (from Behbahan)
Wild Gladiolus italicus corms of different ages and sizes (from Behbahan)

Gladioli have been extensively hybridized and a wide range of ornamental flower colours are available from the many varieties.<ref name=Mujib/> The main hybrid groups have been obtained by crossing between four or five species, followed by selection: 'Grandiflorus', 'Primulines' and 'Nanus'. They can make very good cut flowers for display.<ref name=Mujib/>

The majority of the species in this genus are diploid with 30 chromosomes (2n=30) but the Grandiflora hybrids are tetraploid and possess 60 chromosomes (2n=4x=60). This is because the main parental species of these hybrids is Gladiolus dalenii which is also tetraploid and includes a wide range of varieties (like the Grandiflora hybrids).<ref name=Mujib/>

Numerous garden cultivars have been developed, of which ‘Robinetta’ (a G. recurvus hybrid), with pink flowers, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.<ref name = RHSPF>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Cultivation

In temperate zones, the corms of most species and hybrids should be lifted in autumn and stored over winter in a frost-free place, then replanted in spring. Some species from Europe and high altitudes in Africa, as well as the small 'Nanus' hybrids, are much hardier (to at least Template:Convert) and can be left in the ground in regions with sufficiently dry winters. 'Nanus' is hardy to Zones 5–8. The large-flowered types require moisture during the growing season, and must be individually staked as soon as the sword-shaped flower heads appear. The leaves must be allowed to die down naturally before lifting and storing the corms. Plants are propagated either from small cormlets produced as offsets by the parent corms, or from seed. In either case, they take several years to get to flowering size. Clumps should be dug up and divided every few years to keep them vigorous.<ref name="Lloyd">Template:Cite book</ref>

They are affected by thrips, (thrip simplex),<ref name="Lloyd"/><ref>Ramon Albajes, Maria Lodovica Gullino, Joop C. van Lenteren and Yigal Elad (Editors) Template:Google books</ref> and wasps Dasyproctus bipunctatus, which burrow into the flowers causing them to collapse and die.<ref>Arnold S. Menke Template:Google books</ref>

In culture

  • Gladiolus is the birth flower of August.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • The Australian comedian and personality Dame Edna Everage's signature flowers were gladioli, which she referred to as "gladdies".<ref>Dame Edna Everage and gladioli</ref>
  • The ancient Graeco-Roman god Pluto was said to wear a wreath of what is traditionally identified as a type of Gladiolus,<ref>Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle (Paris, 1819), pp. 315–316; Julius Billerbeck, Flora classica (Leipzig, 1824), p. 13; "L'origine dei maccheroni," Archivo per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari 17 (1898), vol. 36, p. 428.</ref> called phasganion or xiphion in Koine Greek.<ref>Ancient sources on phasganion, xiphion and gladiolus, generally called "corn-flag" by historical botanists, include Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum 7.12.3; Dioscorides, De Materia Medica E 2.101; Pliny, Natural History 21.107–115; Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarius 79, as cited by Andrew Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z (Routledge, 2003), p. 105, characterizing Pliny's entry on the plant as "confused." The correspondence of ancient plant names to modern species is always uncertain. Both the Greek xiphion and the Latin word gladiolus ("little sword") come from a word meaning "sword."</ref>
  • The Mancunian singer Morrissey is known to dance with gladioli hanging from his back pocket or in his hands, especially during the era of The Smiths.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This trait of his was made known in the music video for "This Charming Man", where he swung a bunch of yellow gladioli while singing.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
  • Gladioli are traditionally given to people who finish the International Four Days Marches Nijmegen. This likely derives from their association with victory, from the time when gladiators were showered with them upon victory.
  • Gladiolus is the symbolic flower of Punjab.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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References

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Bibliography

  • G. R. Delpierre and N. M. du Plessis (1974). The winter-growing Gladioli of Southern Africa. Tafelberg-Uitgewers Beperk 120 colour photographs and descriptions.
  • Peter Goldblatt (1996). A monograph of the genus Gladiolus in tropical Africa (83 species). Timber Press
  • Peter Goldblatt, J. C. Manning (1998). Gladiolus in southern Africa: Systematics, Biology, and Evolution, including 144 watercolor paintings. Cape Town: Fernwood Press.

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