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The Latin name of the plant tells us that it is a relative of the garden plant gladiolus. All tens of thousands of gladiolus varieties are bred from the naturally growing species of this plant genus, although mostly  large-flowering species collected from nature in South America have been used as a basis.

The flowers of the meadow gladiolus, mostly reddish purple (there are albino varieties too), are up to three and a half centimetres long and set in a long one-sided spike. It can still be seen flowering.