| 1. | Foliage leaf absent at flowering, only 1 or 2 cauline sheathing leaves present |
| Moraea upembana |
| 1. | Foliage leaf always present at flowering, occasionally short and inserted immediately below the rhipidium |
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| 2. | Plants with foliage leaf inserted at base of rhipidium, well developed or short and hardly differing from sheathing leaves if present; sheathing leaves if present inserted at base of rhipidial spathes |
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| 3. | Foliage leaf about as long or shorter than rhipidial spathes; evidently lacking sheathing leaves; leaf blade as far as known largely channeled |
| Moraea unifoliata |
| 3. | Foliage leaf blade terete and at least 3 times as long as sheathing leave; sheathing leaves solitary or 2 and located at base of rhipidal spathes |
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| 4. | Foliage leaf at least 350 mm long, trailing; sheathing leaves usually |
| Moraea bovonei |
| 4. | Foliage leaf at 60--110 mm long, suberect; sheathing leaves solitary |
| Moraea balundana |
| 2. | 2bPlants with foliage leaf inserted close to stem base or up to middle of stem, always distinct from sheathing leaves; sheathing leaves 1 or more none inserted close to base of rhipidium |
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| 5. | Plants of southern Africa |
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| 6. | Plants with single sheathing leaf; flowers yellow;(native to central KwaZulu-Natal) |
| Moraea unibracteata |
| 6. | Plants with 2–several sheathing leaves, usually overlapping one above; flowers yellow, white or pink or blue |
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| 7. | Leaves with narrow adaxial groove or appearing terete with margins tightly inrolled; flowers yellow |
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| 8. | Cataphylls decaying brown, entire or irregularly broken, ribbed |
| Moraea hiemalis |
| 8. | Cataphylls decaying into firm, dark brown vertical fibres |
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| 9. | Leaf emergent at flowering, later exceeding stem; flowers deep yellow; inner tepal limbs erect |
| Moraea galpinii |
| 9. | Leaf present at flowering, exceeding stem; flowers pale yellow to almost white; inner tepal limbs spreading |
| Moraea robusta |
| 7. | Leaves plane to widely channelled; flowers yellow, white or pink or blue |
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| 10. | Flowers blue or pink then often with style crests darker pink |
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| 11. | Flowers blue to violet; filaments shorter than anthers |
| Moraea ardesiaca |
| 11. | Flowers pink often with darker pink style crests; filaments longer than anthers |
| Moraea carnea |
| 10. | Flowers yellow or white with style crests sometimes with dark purple to brown markings |
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| 12. | Cataphylls forming a pale straw-coloured fibrous network distally |
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| 13. | Plants usually solitary; flowers deep yellow with orange nectar guides |
| Moraea reticulata |
| 13. | Plants growing in clumps; flowers pale watery yellow with small, white to pale yellow nectar guides |
| Moraea alticola |
| 12. | Cataphylls pale to brown , entire or frayed or torn at apex or decaying irregularly |
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| 14. | Style crests with dark purple-brown blotch at bases |
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| 15. | Plants growing mostly along steams and drainage lines, usually in clumps |
| Moraea huttonii |
| 15. | Plants of open grassland, usually solitary |
| Moraea graminicola |
| 14. | Style crests uniformly coloured |
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| 16. | Plants relatively small, up to 450 mm tall; plants mostly solitary |
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| 17. | Leaf 5–6 mm wide; outer tepals 35–50 mm long |
| Moraea muddii |
| 17. | Leaf mostly 8–25 mm wide; outer tepals 60–75 mm long |
| Moraea graminicola |
| 16. | Plants tall, usually > 500 mm tall; plants usually growing in clumps |
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| 18. | Leaves ± flat to widely channelled, .. mm wide, deep green; flowers often with large orange nectar guide |
| Moraea spathulata |
| 18. | Leaves with semicircular channel, .. mm wide, glaucous-green; flowers with small yellow nectar guide |
| Moraea muddii |
| 5. | Plants of tropical Africa |
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| 19. | Flowers yellow; outer tepals (20–)25–35 mm long |
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| 20. | Foliage leaf inserted in middle of stem, mostly 50–120 but up to 200 mm long, usually shorter than stem; sheathing leaf solitary |
| Moraea clavata |
| 20. | Foliage leaf basal or inserted in lower half of stem and shorter to much longer than stem; sheathing leaves 3 or 4 |
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| 21. | Rhipidial spathes 50-80 mm long; sheathing leaves 50–80 mm long |
| Moraea inyangani |
| 21. | Rhipidial spathes 45–55 mm long; sheathing leaves 30– 45 nm long |
| Moraea angolensis |
| 19. | Flowers yellow, blue(mauve) or white); outer tepals 38–100 mm long |
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| 22. | 22aSheathing leaves and spathes partly or completely dry at flowering time and the flowers blue and blooming at the end of the dry season to early in the wet season (Sep.–Dec. south of the equator, Dec.–May north of the equator); leaf often shorter than the stem at flowering; cataphylls dark red-brown and prominent |
| Moraea schimperi |
| 22. | Sheathing leaves and spathes at least partly green at flowering time, or if not, the flowers white to yellow and not flowering at the end of the dry season; leaf exceeding the stem, or if not, flowers white to yellow |
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| 23. | Leaf inserted above ground level, very short and rarely exceeding stem; sheathing leaves usually solitary |
| Moraea brevifolia |
| 23. | Leaf basal or if inserted above ground, then sheathing leaves 1 or 2; leaves not exceeding spathes or the plants no more than 350 mm high |
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| 24. | Plants of Zimbabwe, central and southern Mozambique and South Africa |
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| 25. | Flowering in spring and early summer, Sep.-Nov., usually in moist habitats; 300–500(–700) mm tall; leaf ca. 5 mm wide |
| Moraea muddii |
| 25. | Flowering in summer in open grassland; usually more than 500 mm tall; leaf usually more than 10 mm wide |
| Moraea spathulata |
| 24. | Plants of tropical Africa – Angola and north of Zimbabwe and central Mozambique |
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| 26. | Plants 300–350 mm tall with 2 sheathing cauline leaves only and foliage leaf not or only shortly exceeding stem |
| Moraea tanzanica |
| 26. | Plants usually more than 400 mm tall, if less, then the bract leaves more than 2 and the leaf much exceeding rhipidia |
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| 27. | Sheathing leaves not overlapping |
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| 29. | Outer tepals 55–80 mm long; corm tunics of pale, netted fibers; plants of Congo (DR), Tanzania, eastern Zambia, Malawi |
| Moraea macrantha |
| 29. | Outer tepals 47–60 mm long; corm tunics of wiry, dark fibers; plants of Angola, Congo (DR) and western Zambia |
| Moraea textilis |
| 28. | Flowers yellow to white |
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| 30. | Flowers white flushed pink or red near bases of tepals |
| Moraea niassensis |
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| 27. | Sheathing leaves overlapping |
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| 33. | Outer tepals more than 55 mm long |
| Moraea macrantha |
| 33. | Outer tepals less than 55 mm long |
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| 34. | Anthers 8–11 mm long; inner tepals 37–45 mm long; plants of Burundi, Congo (DR), Zambia, and Tanzania |
| Moraea ventricosa |
| 34. | Anthers 10–15 mm long; inner tepals 48–65 mm long; plants of Angola and western Zambia |
| Moraea textilis |
| 32. | Flowers white to cream or yellow |
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| Moraea ventricosa |
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| 36. | Outer tepals 50–100 mm long; sheathing leaves 2 or 3 (or 4 but then the tepals more than 50 mm) |
| Moraea verdickii |
| 36. | Outer tepals 45–65 mm long; sheathing leaves (4)5 to 7 |
| Moraea textilis |
| 31. | Flowering Nov.-Feb. (Mar.) mostly in well-drained sites; anthers 10-14 mm long; outer tepals 50–100 mm long |
| Moraea verdickii |
| 31. | Flowering (Feb.) Mar. to July in damp situations; anthers 8-10 mm long; outer tepals 45–65 mm |
| Moraea bella |