Gladiolus saundersii

Gladiolus saundersii, commonly known as the Lesotho lily, the Lesotho cornflag or the Saunders' gladiolus, is a robust, cormous perennial that produces large red flowers and reaches heights from 30 cm to 90 cm in its annual above-ground parts. The corm is globose to depressed, about 3 cm to 4 cm in diameter. The deciduous plants often form colonies in the veld.

The species distribution is inland in the north of the Eastern Cape, the west of KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern Free State, also in Lesotho.

The habitat is rocky slopes and seasonally wet grassland and scrub veld, sometimes seen hanging from cliffs in the higher mountains. The plants grow at elevations from 1700 m to 3000 m. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The plant features in horticulture, often in herbaceous borders and best in containers. It requires wet summers, dry winters and survives severe frost (Pooley, et al, 2025; Manning, 2009; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; Pooley, 1998; Trauseld, 1969; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).