Zimbabwe: Hwange NP – Parrot Beak Gladiolus
Zimbabwe (Post 182): Parrot Beak Gladiolus ————- This showy plant – Parrot Beak Gladiolus aka African Gladiolus aka Gladiolus Dalenii in Latin – is native and common in the savanna of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. What is interesting – this is the original wild plant that was used to cultivate and develop all the varieties of the gladiolus flowers in Europe around 250 years ago (naturally, it was bulb-obsessed Dutch who brought it to the Old World) now commonly cultivated all over the world. The wild gladiolus is much smaller then its domesticated brethren, yet the flowers are still huge when compared to other savanna flowering plants. The red to scarlet to orange flowers resemble a parrot’s beak and hence the name.
