Tropicos | Name - !Moraea polystachya (Thunb.) Ker Gawl.

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Iridaceae in sub-Saharan Africa

African Iridaceae > Iridaceae > Moraea > Moraea polystachya

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!Moraea polystachya (Thunb.) Ker Gawl.

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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 6/6/2016)

Acceptance : Accepted

Taxon Profile (Last Modified On 7/5/2016)

Description: Plants medium to large, to 800 mm high. Corm 25–50 mm diam.; tunics of hard, dark coarse fibres. Stem several-branched, with green to partly to completely dry sheathing leaves at upper nodes 60–80 mm long. Foliage leaves 3–5, ± linear, channelled, usually as long or longer than stem, trailing distally, 6–12(–20) mm wide. Rhipidial spathes green or turning brown and dry above, attenuate, inner 50–70 mm long, outer ± 2/3 as long. Flowers fugaceous, blue to mauve or violet, outer tepal limbs with yellow to orange nectar guides at bases, limbs of both whorls reflexed up to ± 40º or erect (Little Karoo populations), claws suberect; outer tepals 36–55 × 13–25 mm, inner 36–55 × 13–21 mm, claws 15–21 mm long. Filaments ± 10 mm long, united in lower 3/4; anthers 8–10 mm long, pale mauve; pollen white. Ovary ± ellipsoid, conspicuously veined red, mostly 7–12 mm long; style branches ± 10 mm long, crests up to 20 mm long. Capsules obovoid, 9–16 mm long. Seeds angular-prismatic, 1.2–1.6 mm long. Chromosome number 2n = 12. Flowering time: autumn and winter (December–)March to July (August).

Country: South Africa, Namibia

South African Province: Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape, Western Cape

Distribution and ecology: widespread in interior southern Africa extending from the Little Karoo in Western Cape north into the Upper Karoo, Eastern Cape, western Free State to northern Namibia; most often on rocky slopes and flats and typically flowering in late summer and autumn, but in winter in the Little Karoo.

Diagnosis: widespread and relatively common in interior southern Africa, Moraea polystachya is recognized by the combination of several foliage leaves, a branched stem and large blue-mauve to violet flowers. The limbs of both tepal whorls are half reflexed, only the outer tepals bear nectar guides and the tepal claws form a narrow cup enclosing the filaments and broad style branches, leaving the style crests prominently displayed. An unusual and particularly distinctive feature of most populations is the red veining on the ovary, this absent in those from the Little Karoo. Once regarded as an ecological variant of M. polystachya, M. venenata is now regarded as a separate, but closely related species. A shorter plant, M. venenata has somewhat larger flowers with inner tepals usually held ± erect, the ovary typically red-veined. The larger capsules, up to 16–20 mm long, are nodding when mature and contain larger seeds, about 2 mm long. Capsules of M. polystachya are held erect, are 9–16 mm long and the smaller seeds are 1.2–1.6 mm long. Both Moraea polystachya and M. venenata are poisonous to stock.

General Notes: Moraea polystachya in the Little Karoo is distinctive not only in lacking red veining on the ovary but in having blue rather than violet flowers and the inner tepals are held erect for most of the flowering cycle. No other features appear to distinguish these plants, which flower in the winter months rather than in late summer and autumn.