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!Moraea tortilis Goldblatt Search in The Plant ListSearch in IPNISearch in Australian Plant Name IndexSearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumSearch in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelleSearch in Type Specimen Register of the U.S. National HerbariumSearch in Virtual Herbaria AustriaSearch in JSTOR Plant ScienceSearch in SEINetSearch in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical GardenAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Flora do Brasil 2020Search in Reflora - Virtual HerbariumSearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 63: 705–706. 1976. (Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 6/6/2016)
Acceptance : Accepted
Taxon Profile     (Last Modified On 6/30/2016)
Description: Plants 10–15 mm high. Corm ± 10 mm diam., asymmetric at base; tunics of tough, dark fibres, sometime as accumulating in a fibrous collar around base. Stem 2 or 3 internodes long, branched at base and upper nodes, sheathing leaves green or brown entirely, 12–20 mm long. Foliage leaves basal and sometimes cauline, (1)2 or 3, terete (flattened adaxially when dry), coiled helically like a corkscrew. Rhipidial spathes green to brown below, becoming completely dry and lacerated, inner 25–40 mm long, outer ± half as long, sheathing entirely. Flowers fugaceous, blue or white, outer tepal limbs with small yellow nectar guides at bases often edged dark violet, half reflexed; outer tepals 25–35 × ± 20 mm, limb ± 2/3 as long as claws, obtuse to retuse; inner tepals to 22–30 mm long, limbs also reflexed. Filaments ± 8 mm long, united in lower half; anthers 5 mm long, yellow; pollen yellow. Ovary narrowly ovoid-ellipsoid, ± 9 mm long, included, style branches ± 10 mm long, crests narrow, ± 10 mm long, erect. Capsules ± ellipsoid, 12–13 mm long, included. Seeds angled. Chromosome number 2n = 20. Flowering time: September and October.
Type specimen: Peter Goldblatt - 2771 - MO - (BC:MO-202648/A:2224094)
Country: South Africa
South African Province: Northern Cape
Distribution and ecology: rarely and local in Northern Cape extending from the southern Richtersveld to Springbok; confined to stony sandy places, frequently associated with quartzite outcrops.
Diagnosis: rarely exceeding 120 mm in height, Moraea tortilis is distinguished by tightly coiled, corkscrew-like leaves, in section the blades terete. Plants are usually branched and the flowers, violet or sometimes white with yellow nectar guides, are striking and distinctive in the broad, half reflexed tepal limbs. The ovary and capsules remain enclosed in the spathes as in the closely allied M. serpentina, which has loosely coiled to twisted leaves, the blades channelled or flat, rather than terete and the flowers, either predominantly yellow or white, have erect or suberect, spathulate inner tepals.

 
 


 

Specimens whose coordinates are enclosed in square brackets [ ] have been mapped to a standard reference mark based on political units.
 
 
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