Published In:
D.D. dissertatio botanica de Moraea 13. 1787. ( Moraea) 
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(Last Modified On 6/6/2016)
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Acceptance
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Accepted
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(Last Modified On 6/28/2016)
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Description:
Plants 150–450 mm high. Corm globose-ovoid, up to 20 mm diam., slightly asymmetric with a fibrous downward extension on one side, with many cormlets clustered around base; tunics brown, inner layers unbroken, outer layers becoming partly fibrous, sometimes entirely with age. Stem erect, with long, basal internode and branches clustered in umbellate fashion. Leaves 2–4, inserted well above ground, clustered at bases of branches, lowermost up to 400 mm long, others shorter, channelled, falcate to trailing. Rhipidial spathes green with brown tips, ± truncate or lacerate at apex, rarely acute, inner 30‑40 mm long, outer ± half to nearly as long, sheathing entirely or free distally. Flowers fugaceous, pale yellow flushed brownish outside, bases of all tepal limbs with dull yellow nectar guides at bases, tepal claws forming a windowed cup below enclosing filaments, limbs spreading horizontally, somewhat undulate; outer tepals 19–30 × 9–12 mm, claws narrow, 5–7 mm long; inner 17–28 × 8–10 mm long. Filaments 6‑7 mm long, united entirely or free and diverging in upper 1.0–1.5 mm, column smooth; anthers 3.0–3.5 mm long, narrowly diverging; pollen yellow. Ovary ovoid, 5–7 mm long, exerted or partly(‑entirely) included; style branches ± 2 mm long, narrow, appressed to and shorter than anthers, bilobed at tips, lacking crests. Capsules and seeds unknown. Chromosome number 2n = 20 (or 30). Flowering time: late September to November (to early December); flowers opening ± 14:00 or even later, fading by 19:00.
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South African Province:
Western Cape
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Distribution and ecology:
relatively widespread in Western Cape, extending from the Piketberg south to the Cape Peninsula and east to Stormsvlei Kloof west of Riviersonderend; usually in deep rocky sandstone derived soil on flats or level sites in montane areas, most often found in seasonally moist situations. Loss of habitat for this mostly lowland species renders its conservation status today as potentially threatened.
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Diagnosis:
Moraea umbellata has the vegetative morphology typical of subg. Umbellatae, a stem consisting of a long basal internode, leaves clustered well above ground at the first aerial node, the point where branching occurs, and several subequal branches are clustered in semi-umbellate manner. Plants can be robust, reaching as much as 450 mm in height and can often be distinguished by size alone. The flowers are also distinctive: the tepal claws are 5–7 mm long enclosing the filaments which are either united entirely or free near the apex and the reduced and narrow style branches are appressed to but shorter than the anthers and lack crests. The outer inflorescence spathes may be entirely sheathing or free distally as in several other species of the subgenus. The fugaceous flowers last only a few hours, opening in the late afternoon, fading in early evening and completely collapsed by 19:00. Individuals of three of four populations so far examined cytologically are triploid, 2n = 30, hence sexually sterile: only one diploid population is known, 2n = 20. It seems likely that many populations of the species are triploid as plants often fail to set seed, and most collections lack developing capsules. Reproduction in the sexually sterile plants is evidently by the numerous tiny cormlets that are produced around the base of the mother corm.
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General Notes:
first collected in the 1770's by C.P. Thunberg and described by him in 1787 as Moraea umbellata, the species was subsequently transferred to no less than five different genera, Aristea, Bobartia, Ferraria, Homeria and then Rheome, the confusion resulting from its reduced style branches that lack style crests. The identity of Thunberg’s M. umbellata was long misunderstood and when the species was rediscovered in 1931 by Louisa Bolus, she thought it new to science and described it as Homeria bobartioides. It was only in 1948 that G.J. Lewis realized that Thunberg's M. umbellata was conspecific with H. bobartioides and she accordingly made the transfer to Homeria. Following the redefinition of Homeria (Goldblatt, 1980a), and the consequent removal from Homeria of those species believed to have acquired Homeria like features by convergence, H. umbellata was transferred to a new genus Rheome, that genus now included in Moraea.
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Specimens whose coordinates are enclosed in square brackets [ ] have been mapped to a standard reference mark based on political
units.
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Africa & Madagascar
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South Africa
:
[28°34'22"S 023°49'34"E],
C.F. Ecklon & C.L.P. Zeyher Irid 15
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
28 October 1976,
Peter Goldblatt 4414
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
16 November 1979,
Peter Goldblatt 5163
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
23 September 1980,
Peter Goldblatt 5853
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
03 October 1980,
Peter Goldblatt 5907
(MO)
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South Africa
Cape:
17 Oct 1986,
Peter Goldblatt 7933
(MO)
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South Africa
Cape:
1000 - 1400 m,
26 Nov 1987,
Peter Goldblatt 8668
(MO)
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South Africa
Cape:
8 Nov 1987,
Peter Goldblatt & John C. Manning 8584
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
2330 ft,
32°48'18"S 018°41'59"E,
09 October 2014,
Peter Goldblatt & Lendon J. Porter 14062
(MO)
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