Gladiolus italicus, Gladiolus segetum,
Common Gladiolus, Corn-flag,
Hebrew: סייפן התבואה, Arabic: الدلبوث الإيطالي

Scientific name:		Gladiolus italicus Miller
Synonym name:		Gladiolus segetum Ger-Gawler
Common name:		Common Gladiolus, Corn-flag
Hebrew name:		סייפן התבואה
Arabic name:		الدلبوث الإيطالي
Plant Family:		Iridaceae, אירוסיים

Life form:		Geophyte
Stems:		Up to 75cm; generally unbranched, rounded but flattened, erect, glabrous
Leaves:		Alternate, rosette, lanceolate, entire margins
Inflorescence:		Spike of 6-16 flowers
Flowers:		Pink; unscented; funnel-shaped; 3 stamens; filaments 5-8mm, brownish-purple; anthers longer than filaments, yellow
Fruits / pods:		Capsule, loculicidal
Flowering Period:		March, April
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes
Chorotype:		Med - Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral
Protected Flower, צמח מוגן:		Yes

Derivation of the botanical name: Gladiolus, Latin gladius, sword; gladiolus, small sword. So called by Pliny in reference to the plant's sword-shaped leaves. italicus, Italian. סייפן,(Hebrew) seifan constructed from sayif 'sword' The standard author abbreviation Miller is used to indicate Philip Miller (1691 – 1771), a botanist of Scottish descent. The standard author abbreviation Ger-Gawler is used to indicate John Bellenden Ker Gawler, originally John Gawler(1764 - 1842), an English botanist. Theophrastus (370BCE — ca.285BCE), Historia Plantarum, book VII.12.3: "The root of the plant called corn-flag is sweet, and, if cooked and pounded up and mixed with the flour, makes the bread sweet and wholesome. It is round and without 'bark,' and has small offsets like the long onion. Many of them are found in moles' runs; for this animal likes them and collects them." Pliny (23–79), Natural History, Book XXI. LXVII: "Some include among the class of bulbs Giadiobic the root of the cypiros, that is, of the gladiolus. It ^phodei. makes a pleasant food, one which, when boiled, also renders bread more palatable, and also when kneaded with it more weighty.** Not unlike it is the plant which is called thesium, and is acrid to the taste. LXVIII. The other plants of the same kind differ in the leaf : asphodel has an oblong, narrow leaf ; the squill one broad and flexible ; the gladiolus one that its name suggests.^ ^ Gladiolus, i.e., " little sword." Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve