The genus name Gladiolus stems from the Latin diminutive for a sword, gladius, relating to the shape of the leaves, whereas virgatus describes the willowy nature of the slender arching stems.

The earliest records of this species date back to 1907 when flowers bought from Cape Town flower sellers were brought to the Bolus Herbarium and preserved, and a further specimen which was obtained in 1914 at the Stellenbosch Wild Flower Show from an unknown location. Another early specimen was collected in the Helderberg area in 1921 and then it was recorded again in 1943 independently collected by a botanist, namely Elsie Esterhuyse and a retired forester, R.N. Parker. These and other collections were initially identified as the similar, but shorter-tubed species Gladiolus blommesteinii.

Therefore, even though Gladiolus virgatus had been collected since the beginning of the last century, it was only formally recognised as a new species, when Peter Goldblatt and John Manning revised the genus Gladiolus, in 1993 and were made aware of an unusual pink gladiolus in the Helderberg found by P.A Runnals, while she was collecting plants for compiling a flora for the Helderberg Nature Reserve. Goldblatt and Manning then described Gladiolus virgatus from a specimen gathered in the Du Toit’s Kloof Mountains in 1949 by the legendary Elsie Esterhuyse, who had noted the differences in markings on the flowers from the then known Gladiolus blommesteinii.