Gladiolus x colvillei

"Gladiolus × colvillei" Sweet is a hybrid "Gladiolus" cultivar. Common name: Scarlet Gladiolus.

The original "Gladiolus × colvillei" was bred by the nurseryman James Colville of Chelsea, London from the southern African species "G. tristis" and "G. cardinalis" and first described in 1823; it is still cultivated [Lewis, G.J. (1972) "Gladiolus: a revision of South African species of Gladiolus". Journal of South African Botany Suplementary Volume 10.] . It has deep pink flowers with a cream stripe on each of the lower three tepals.

In 1826 James Colville put on sale a white form with pale pink anthers known as "G. colvillei alba". In 1871, a completely white sport with the same parentage was described: "G. colvillei" 'The Bride'. This cultivar is still available commercially today under the same name.

The Colvillei group of "Gladiolus" now includes many small (to about 40 cm tall) spring-flowering cultivars with flowers from white to pink or orange-red. Some are likely to have other southern African species such as "G. carneus" in their ancestry [Cooke, D.A. (2005) in Spencer, R.D. "Horticultural Flora of South-Eastern Australia" vol. 5, p. 221 ISBN 0868408328] .

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