Gladiolus venustus tepal dance

Tepal dance? Granted when the wind blows! Otherwise, the description does suit Gladiolus venustus in the sense of numerous, shapely upper and lower tepal tips flocking together in the inflorescence, purple and rounded. They form a loose sequence from flower to flower, suggesting celebration of spring, life, another day, or whatever will conjure happiness readily.

The nearly closed tepal tips at the back are still darker than those of the slightly older flowers. The central, non-purple corolla parts add their own colour surprises, vacillating among whitish, cream, lemon yellow and darkened brown to grey. G. venustus tepal tips are pink on some plants (Manning, 2007; Goldblatt and Manning, 1998; iNaturalist).