Flora-Fauna

Gladiolus italicus Mill.

(First published in Gard. Dict., ed. 8: nº 2 (1768); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, Pl. C nº 1; 1966, as Gladiolus segetum Ker Gawl., syn. G. communis L. pro parte)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial cormous geophyte; corm subglobose, 1–3 cm, covered with brown tunics breaking down into rather strong fibres; stem erect, striate, smooth, more or less robust, 30 cm to 1 m tall.

• Leaves : Stem with one or two basal membranous sheaths, followed by 3–5 more or less spaced leaves whose sheaths tightly enclose the stem; lower leaves equitant, ensiform and striate; upper leaves progressively smaller.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Spike unilateral, lax, 3–13-flowered; spathes herbaceous, lanceolate, with a hyaline scarious margin; flowers sessile in the spathe, each with a bract similar to the spathe but shorter and narrower. Perianth pale rose-purple, 2–5 cm long; tube short and arched; tepals unequal, the three upper ones elongate, obtuse and attenuate at base, the three lower ones longer and joined slightly higher than the upper tepals, marked with a pink-violet patch or a white patch bordered with pink-violet. Stamens about two thirds as long as the perianth; filaments filiform, slightly shorter than the green, violet-flushed anthers; pollen yellow; style violet, slightly exceeding the stamens.

• Fruit : Capsule subglobose, obscurely trigonous and trisulcate; seeds obovate-subglobose, russet and dull, not winged.

• Phenology : Flowers from March to May.

• Habitat & elevation : Cultivated fields, especially cereal fields, and more or less degraded woodland, from the coastal belt to lower and middle mountain localities, also in Mediterranean continental and Hermon sites.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Saïda, Zefta, Beyrouth, Dbayyé, Batroun, Ras Chekka, Tripoli, Maghdouché, ‘Abey, Chemlan, Baabda, Jamhour, below Beit Méri, ‘Aramoun, Ghazir, Bzoummar, Feitroun, Jabal Terbol, Bcharré, Ehden, Zahlé and Rachaya.

• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Gulf States, Iran, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Morocco, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

• Extinct in : Switzerland.

• Introduced range : Alabama, California, Madeira.

• Diagnostic remarks : Mouterde treated this species under Gladiolus segetum Ker Gawl., now generally placed in synonymy of Gladiolus italicus Mill. It is separated in Mouterde’s key from G. imbricatus by its relatively pale rose-purple perianth, laxer spike, corm tunics breaking into stronger fibres, and non-winged seeds; G. imbricatus has a darker perianth, denser spike, broader spathe valves tinged with purple, and winged seeds. It also differs from G. aleppicus by its rose-purple rather than very dark purple-violet perianth and by its non-winged seeds.