Gladiolus is one of the largest genera of the horticulturally important plant family Iridaceae. Despite the horticultural importance of Gladiolus, the species in tropical Africa have received little attention and have remained poorly known until now. This book is a comprehensive, well-illustrated account of the 82 species - one third of the species in the genus - that occur in tropical Africa. Of these 82 species, 26 have been described as new to science and named by the author.

Gladiolus in Tropical Africa by Peter Goldblatt is the result of more than five years of field, laboratory, and historical research. This research, conducted in the course of a lifelong study of the genera of the iris family, brings order to the heretofore fragmentary and confused state of knowledge about members of the genus in the heart of its geographical range.

The book includes detailed information about the discovery of tropical African Gladiolus species, the etymology of their names and a complete account of their synonyms, the morphology and anatomy of the plants, their geographical distributions and habitats, their relationships, and other aspects of their biology, including ecology and ethno-botany.

Determining which family a plant belongs to is a crucial horticultural skill. Organizing plants by family provides a framework for thinking about plant characteristics and for arranging thousands of plant names in a coherent and predictive pattern. This is especially important now, as advances in DNA analysis have recently altered much of the world of botanical taxonomy. In Temperate Garden Plant Families, Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning teach readers how to identify the most horticulturally important temperate plant families. Introductory information includes an overview of family classification, plant nomenclature, and plant morphology. The comprehensive A-Z of plants includes profiles that include information on the number of species and genera, plant form, flowers, fruit, and a short description. Each profile is illustrated with colour photographs and botanical illustrations. This comprehensive identification guide is for botany and horticultural professionals, nurserymen, advanced gardeners, and students of botany and horticulture.

Peter Goldblatt's Gladiolus in Tropical Africa is the result of more than five years of field, laboratory, and historical research. This research, conducted in the course of a lifelong study of the genera of the iris family, brings order to the heretofore fragmentary and confused state of knowledge about members of the genus in the heart of its geographical range. The book includes detailed information about the discovery of tropical African Gladiolus species, the etymology of their names and a complete account of their synonyms, the morphology and anatomy of the plants, their geographical distributions and habitats, their relationships, and other aspects of their biology, including ecology and ethnobotany. The book is extensively illustrated with 41 color plates, 61 drawings by the internationally recognized botanist and botanical artist, John C. Manning, and 85 distribution maps. A glossary of special terminology, a bibliography, and an index complete the work. Among the introductory chapters of the book is an account of the development of the garden gladiolus. The characteristics of only a few species have been used to yield the array of existing cultivars through hybridization. The illustrations and descriptions in Gladiolus in Tropical Africa reveal that there is much more variation that could be exploited horticulturally to increase the diversity of garden and greenhouse gladiolus.