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Gladiolus communis; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-04-26

Gladiolus communis L.

Eastern gladiolus; Cornflag

Iridaceae · Corse, France +13 · listed by its genus as a bulb, tuber or caudex

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Gladiolus communis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGladiolus communis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGladiolus communis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGladiolus communis, photograph (c) maxmarengo, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gladiolus communis, photograph (c) harry beaman, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gladiolus communis, photograph (c) harry beaman, some rights reserved (CC BY) 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-2.8°C
Record low -7.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
706mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
12–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes September to January and April to May, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Gladiolus communis, the eastern gladiolus, or common corn-flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to temperate northern Africa, western Asia and southern Europe, from the Mediterranean to the Caucasus, and widely naturalised in frost-free locations elsewhere – such as coastal parts of the southwestern British Isles.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gladiolus communis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Gladiolus

Gladiolus is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gladiolus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex, listed under the genus Gladiolus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tuberous geophyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (503 mm of 692 mm) falls in September to January and April to May, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.2 °C against a yearly mean of 14.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to November.

Rain

692 mm in the median year at the habitat, 503 mm of it September to January and April to May. Wettest month October at 85 mm, driest month July at 17 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 444 mm to 1,205 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 706 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 692 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 6, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -2.8 °C, the absolute minimum -7.5 °C, 845 frost nights in 44 years, 19.2 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 2.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -0.7 °C to 7.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.1 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -2.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +136 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Gladiolus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “tuberous geophyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Gladiolus communis through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 2.6 °C; 692 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost37.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-7.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 12–46RH 57–62%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 925 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 7–1411 / 8–1514 / 10–1816 / 12–1920 / 15–2324 / 19–2827 / 21–3227 / 21–3124 / 19–2719 / 15–2214 / 10–1811 / 7–15
Night °C3 / -1–83 / 0–85 / 2–97 / 4–1110 / 7–1414 / 11–1817 / 13–2117 / 14–2114 / 11–1911 / 8–166 / 3–114 / 0–9
Rain mm66 / 35–12355 / 33–9750 / 30–9566 / 46–11361 / 37–10637 / 14–7517 / 4–6530 / 7–7163 / 32–9985 / 54–12780 / 49–13882 / 43–153
DLI14 / 7–1720 / 13–2329 / 21–3236 / 30–3941 / 34–4446 / 37–4946 / 37–5040 / 32–4531 / 24–3522 / 15–2515 / 9–1812 / 6–14
RH %61 / 57–6660 / 57–6458 / 54–6358 / 54–6258 / 53–6357 / 50–6357 / 47–6358 / 48–6359 / 52–6360 / 57–6461 / 57–6662 / 58–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 925 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1185 records in those cells; 13 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1024:3582 (38.775, -0.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -7.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 925 distinct grid cells holding 1185 of the 1198 in-range records (13 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1024:3582 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.00_-0.625, lapse-corrected +136 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 610 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCorse, France, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Krym, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus · introduced: Germany, Greece, Kenya, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Argentina Northeast · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker39.143, -0.41 · in the densest population, 432 records (33% of those in range)
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1308 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1185 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1198 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 320 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 457 km away. 115 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 110 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1308 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Gladiolus communis, photograph 1did not loadGladiolus communis, photograph 2did not loadGladiolus communis, photograph 3did not loadGladiolus communis, photograph 4did not loadGladiolus communis, photograph 5did not loadGladiolus communis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) maxmarengo, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) harry beaman, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Ophrys fusca Ophrys fusca Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Gary Yong GeeBromus rigidus Bromus rigidus Ripgut brome Photo: CC BY, Samantha Knight Valeriana calcitrapae Caprifoliaceae Achillea ageratum Achillea ageratum Sweet yarrow Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaCoronilla valentina Coronilla valentina Shrubby scorpion-vetch Photo: CC BY, Louis AuregliaCarlina hispanica Carlina hispanica Asteraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Josep Gesti

Other Gladiolus 53 in the reference

Gladiolus alatus Gladiolus alatus Iridaceae Photo: CC BY, Cricket RaspetGladiolus anatolicus Gladiolus anatolicus Anatolian Gladiolus Photo: CC0, author not statedGladiolus angustus Gladiolus angustus Painted-lady Photo: CC BY, Justin PonderGladiolus atroviolaceus Gladiolus atroviolaceus Steppe Gladiolus Photo: CC BY, avocat Gladiolus aureus Golden Glad Gladiolus brevifolius Gladiolus brevifolius March pypie Photo: CC BY, Andrew GillespieGladiolus × byzantinus Gladiolus × byzantinus Iridaceae Photo: CC0, Robert H. WardellGladiolus candidus Gladiolus candidus Iridaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Susan BrownGladiolus cardinalis Gladiolus cardinalis New Year-lily Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloGladiolus carinatus Gladiolus carinatus Blue Afrikaner Photo: CC BY, Charleen BrunkeGladiolus carmineus Gladiolus carmineus Hermanus gladiolus Photo: CC BY-SA, magriet bGladiolus carneus Gladiolus carneus Broadleaf painted-lady Photo: CC BY-SA, Barbara le Roux all 54 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Gladiolus collinus; Gladiolus communis subsp. notarisii; Gladiolus communis var. carneus; Gladiolus communis var. montserratii; Gladiolus gussonei and 9 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Gladiolus numidicus: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Iridaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Corse, France, Sardegna +12
Wild records
1308 in range · 320 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 19 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (13 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.00_-0.625, lapse-corrected +136 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Gladiolus communis L. (the item's: IPNI 437375-1, POWO 437372-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 113 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…