Side Plate Gladiola, hand painted in South Africa

8.5 by 7” Hand-painted ceramic.

This side plate is hand designed to emulate the look of the Gladiolus flower.

The genus Gladiolus contains about 260 species, of which 250 are native to sub-Saharan Africa, mostly South Africa. The South African species were originally pollinated by long-tongued anthrophorine bees, but some changes in the pollination system have occurred, allowing pollination by sunbirds, noctuid and sphingid moths, long-tongued flies and several others.