Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Habitat and
distribution
Gladiolus negeliensis
Description
Fig. 110.
Gladiolus
negeliensis, from
near Negelle,
Sidamo floristic
region.
ZYGOTRITONIA GLADIOLUS 245
It grows on rocky basalt outcrops in grass on mountain
slopes and on limestone escarpment in Acacia-
Combretum woodland between 1750 and 1850 m in Bale
floristic region in southeastern Ethiopia. It is not known
anywhere else. The main flowering period is from May
to June.
2. Gladiolus negeliensis Goldblatt
The specific epithet ‘negeliensis’ refers to the place where
the original collection was made, Negeli (Negelle). The
species was described by Goldblatt in 1996 from a plant
collected from south of Negelle on the road to Melka
Guba, in Sidamo floristic region, Ethiopia by Friis,
Mesfin T., and Volle sen.
The species is easily distinguished from other
indigenous species by the slender habit and moderate
sized 15–30 mm long, white to pale pink flowers.
Plant 15–30 cm high. Corm 10–15 mm in diameter. Foliage leaves
usually 3 (or less), all basal or upper inserted on lower part of stem,
blades narrowly lanceolate to linear, reaching to about middle of
stem. Stem unbranched, generally flexed outward at base of spike
or above sheath of upper leaf, 1.5–2 mm in diameter at the base of
the spike. Spike 2–5-flowered. Flowers white to pale pink, tepals
each with a medium pink streak and lower 3 with greenish to yellow
markings, throat often streaked with pink; perianth tube 30–40 mm
long, obliquely funnel­shaped, narrow part 25–30 mm long and
reaching or exceeding apices of bracts; tepals lanceolate, dorsal