Gladiolus taken from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword, is a genus of flowering plants in the iris family known as Iridaceae. Sometimes they are called the sword lily, the most widely-used English common name for these plants is simply gladiolus.

The genus Gladiolus contains of about 260 species, of which 250 are native to sub-Saharan Africa, mostly South Africa. About 10 species are also native to Eurasia. There are about 160 species of Gladiolus endemic in southern Africa and 76 in tropical Africa. The species vary from very small to the spectacular and giant flower spikes in commerce.

These attractive, perennial herbs are semi hardy in the temperate climates. They grow from rounded, symmetrical corms that are enveloped in many layers of brownish, fibrous tunics.

Their stems are generally unbranched and produce 1 to 9 narrow, sword-shaped, longitudinal grooved leaves, enclosed in a sheath.The fragrant flower spikes are large one-sided, with secund, bisexual flowers, each subtended by 2 leathery, green bracts. The sepals and the petals are almost identical in their appearance. The style has three filiform, spoon-shaped branches, each that expand towards the apex.

.These flowers have various different colors like pink to reddish or light purple with white, contrasting markings, or white to cream or orange to red.

Gladioli are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species like the Large Yellow Underwing.

Gladioli have been extensively hybridized to make a wide range of ornamental flower colours available. The main hybrid groups have been obtained by crossing between four or five different species. They make very good cut flowers but because of their height, the cultivated forms frequently tend to fall over in the wind if left on the plant.