Gladiolus saundersii (Saunders' gladiolus, Lesotho lily)

khahla ea maloti [South Sotho]

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Monocotyledons > Order: Asparagales > Family: Iridaceae > Genus: Gladiolus

Gladiolus saundersii flowering in summer near Naude's Nek in the Eastern Cape Drakensberg, South Africa. [photo Colin Paterson-Jones ©]

Uses

• In Southern Sotho medicine, the corm of Gladiolus saundersii is cooked and eaten with other food, for the relief of diarrhoea (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk 1962).

Publications

• Goldblatt P. and Manning J. 1998. Gladiolus in Southern Africa. Fernwood Press, Vlaeberg, Cape Town.
• Watt, J.M. and Breyer-Brandwijk, M.G. 1962. The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa. Second Edition. E. & S. Livingstone Ltd., Edinburgh.

Text by Hamish Robertson