Gladiolus is a genus of the Iris family. "Gladiolus" is the Latin word for a small sword. Leaves of most Gladiolus species are sword shaped. In spite of the fact that Gladiolus comes in a huge variety of colours, the common name is "Afrikaner". Twelve Gladiolus species grow in the reserve of farm 215 (all of them pictured here), including two so called red data species, the Gladiolus overbergensis and the G. trichonemifolius. The Gladiolus Overbergensis is a truly local Southern Overberg plant. It only occurs in the coastal stretch between Hermanus and Cape Agulhas and only flowers after fire. No photograph of this plant existed before the great Overberg Fire of February 2006 which burnt about 40´000 hectares.