Gladiolus x hortulanus 'May Bride' (Hybrid Gladiolus)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Hybrid Gladiolus

Description

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Family Iridaceae

Herbs perennial (or shrubs or annuals ), with rhizomes, bulbs, or corms. Leaves alternate, often 2-ranked, often oriented edgewise to aerial stem, usually sword-shaped to linear , parallel veined, base sheathing . Inflorescence sometimes a spike or reduced to a solitary flower, more often of monochasial , umbellate cymes, each enclosed in 2 opposed bracts (spathes ) and termed a rhipidium, which may be solitary and terminal or numerous and variously arranged in racemes or panicles; bracts 1 to several. Flowers bisexual , showy, usually actinomorphic (often zygomorphic elsewhere) . Perianth segments 6, in 2 whorls, inner and outer ones equal or differing in size and/or color; tube filiform or trumpet-shaped. Stamens (2 or) 3; anthers extrorse . Ovary inferior (or superior), 3-loculed; ovules few to many; placentation axile . Style with filiform, slender, or petaloid branches. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seeds with or without aril and wings .

Between 70 and 80 genera and ca. 1800 species: nearly worldwide, especially S Africa, Asia, and Europe; three genera and 61 species (21 endemic, one introduced ) in China.[1]

Genus Gladiolus

Herbs, perennial , from corms. Stems simple or branched. Leaves 1-9; blade lanceolate to linear , plane or margins and/or midribs variously raised and thickened (then H- or X-shaped in cross section ), or evidently terete , midribs and margins much thickened, grooved ; grooves 4, narrow, longitudinal . Inflorescences spicate , partly to fully secund or with flowers weakly distichous; bracts green, sometimes flushed grayish purple, unequal, outer usually exceeding inner, acute or inner forked or notched apically. Flowers somewhat fragrant, zygomorphic [actinomorphic ]; tepals basally connate into tube , variously colored , usually with contrasting markings comprising nectar guide on outer tepals, usually unequal, dorsal tepal largest, arched to hooded over stamens, outer 3 tepals narrower; perianth tube obliquely funnel-shaped to cylindric ; stamens usually unilateral ; anthers usually parallel; style usually arching over stamens, dividing into 3 filiform branches, these distally expanded. Capsules usually slightly inflated , oblong to ellipsoid or globose [rarely nearly cylindric], softly cartilaginous . Seeds usually many, broadly winged ; rarely few, wingless, globose or angular; seed coat light to dark brown. x = 15.

Species ca. 260: introduced ; Africa, Madagascar, Eurasia .

Hybrid strains of Gladiolus are widely cultivated, and some wild species are grown outdoors in areas with mild winters. The common, large-flowered hybrids are the product of crossing between four or five species, followed by selection. Named variously G. gandavensis L. van Houtte, G. lemoinei Baker, and G. hortulanus L. H. Bailey, these plants are occasionally found in and near gardens and cemeteries and are easily recognized by their large, brightly colored flowers with the inner tepals 60-70 mm long and the outer tepals about 50 mm long. They reproduce mainly vegetatively and persist for some years where winters are mild; they show no evidence of spreading into native vegetation.[2]

Physical Description

Flowers: Bloom Period: April, May, June, July, August. • Flower Color: near white, orange, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 36-48" tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 6-9" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Infraphylum: Radiatopses () - Kenrick & Crane, 1997
        Class: Spermatopsida () - Brongniart, 1843
        Subclass: Liliidae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Lilianae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Order: Asparagales () - Bromhead, 1838
        Family: Iridaceae () - A.L. de Jussieu, 1789 - Iris Family
        Subfamily: Crocoideae ()
        Tribe: Ixieae ()
        Genus: Gladiolus () - C. Linnaeus, 1753 - Corn-flag [Latin gladiolus, little sword, alluding to the leaf shape]
        Specific epithet: x hortulanus 'May Bride'
        Cultivar: May Bride
        Botanical name: - Gladiolus x hortulanus 'May Bride'

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Gladiolus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 153 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

More Info

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Notes

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Contributors

Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Identifiers

Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 975784

Footnotes

Yu-tang Zhao, Henry J. Noltie & Brian F. Mathew "Iridaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 297. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Peter Goldblatt "Gladiolus". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 349, 407, 408. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

Gladiolus x hortulanus 'May Bride'

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Iridaceae

Genus Gladiolus

Physical Description

Size/Age/Growth

Biology

Growth

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Gladiolus

More Info

Further Reading

Notes

Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes