About Gladiolus tristis L.
Gladiolus tristis L. is a species of gladiolus that goes by several common names, including ever-flowering gladiolus and marsh Afrikaner. It is native to southern Africa, especially South Africa. It exists as an introduced species in parts of Australia and coastal California, and is sometimes cultivated as a garden plant. This gladiolus typically grows between half a meter and one meter in height, though it has been recorded approaching 1.5 meters tall. It grows from a corm that is one to two centimeters wide, and produces three narrow, sheathing leaves. Its inflorescence is a spike that bears two to eight large, fragrant blooms. Each flower has six white or cream tepals with greenish or purplish midlines. The flowers are reported to have a scent similar to carnations and cloves. Not all individual plants produce scented flowers, because the allele for scent presence is recessive to the allele for scent absence.
