Gladiolus × colvillii
species of plant
Gladiolus × colvillii, the scarlet gladiolus, is a hybrid Gladiolus cultigen.
The original Gladiolus × colvillii was bred by the nurseryman James Colville of Chelsea, London from the southern African species G. tristis and G. cardinalis and first described in 1823; it is still cultivated. It has deep pink flowers with a cream stripe on each of the lower three tepals.
In 1826 James Colville put on sale a white form with pale pink anthers known as G. colvillii alba. In 1871, a completely white sport with the same parentage was described: G. colvillii 'The Bride'. This cultivar is still available commercially today under the same name.
The Colvillei group of Gladiolus now includes many small (to about 40 cm tall) spring-flowering cultivars with flowers from white to pink or orange-red. Some are likely to have other southern African species such as G. carneus in their ancestry.
“Gladiolus × colvillii” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Gladiolus, colvillii and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Gladiolus × colvillii” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Gladiolus, colvillii and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5566301. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1823, 1826 and 1871.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Gladiolus × colvillii” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.