Gladiolus aurantiacus

Gladiolus aurantiacus is a South African species of high-altitude, summer-rainfall grassland, centred on KwaZulu-Natal and extending into Mpumalanga and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). As its epithet suggests ('aurantiacus', orange-coloured), it bears the genus's typical irregular, funnel-shaped flowers in orange tones, carried on a stem 45 to 75 cm tall. The fibre-tunicated corm produces sheathing leaves, with short-bladed stem leaves distinct from the longer basal leaves. It flowers in summer, the active growing season for this summer-rainfall geophyte. Grow in soil that is well drained yet cool during the growing season, in a sunny position, with dry winter dormancy.