Published In:
Novon 8(4): 375. 1998. ( Novon)   
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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 7/14/2016)
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Description:
Plants (200–)300–600 mm high. Corms 15–30 mm diam.; tunics of coarse, black fibres. Stem branched from upper nodes, occasionally also near base, branches short, straight, but flexed below rhipidia, sheathing leaves acute, (40–)60–90 mm long. Foliage leaf solitary, basal, sheathing lower part of stem, falcate to trailing above, longer than stem, channeled, (6–)12–25 mm wide. Rhipidial spathes acute, inner elongating later to enclose capsules, (40–)50–90 mm long, outer slightly shorter to 2/3 as long. Flowers fugaceous, pale yellow (rarely pale salmon-pink), darker towards center, tepal limb bases minutely spotted dark yellow to green, faintly scented, spreading and twisted distally, claws erect, clasping filament column; outer tepals 30–43 × 14–18 mm, claws 4–6 mm long, limbs oblong to slightly obovate; inner tepals 30–35 × 12–14 mm. Filaments 6–10 mm long, united in cylindric column smooth or papillate in lower 1/3, usually free in upper 1–2 mm; anthers 6–10 mm long, diverging, tips curving inward, yellow; pollen yellow. Ovary ± cylindric, 10–15 mm long, usually included; style branches diverging, 5–7 mm long, arching upwards distally, stigma bilobed, stigmatic laterally, crests 2–4 mm long, ± linear, arching inward. Capsules 15–22 mm long, cylindric to club-shaped. Seeds angular, light brown. Chromosome number 2n = 12, 24, 36. Flowering time: late August to October.
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South African Province:
Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape
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Distribution and ecology:
widespread, mainly at high altitudes, from the Cedarberg in through interior Western Cape, the Roggeveld in Northern Cape east through the Karoo at higher elevations to Queenstown in Eastern Cape, and north in the mountains of the eastern Free State and western Lesotho; mainly montane, in grassland or fynbos on a variety of soils, flowering only after fire in Western Cape.
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Diagnosis:
Moraea cookii is one of few species of Iridaceae that extend across southern Africa from the interior mountains of Western Cape, with winter rainfall, across the Upper Karoo to Lesotho, where summer rainfall prevails. It is distinguished by the large, usually pale yellow (rarely pale salmon-pink) flowers with short, erect tepal claws and broad spreading limbs mostly 25–35 mm long. The claws either clasp the filament column or form a narrow cup including the lower part of the filament column. The filaments are free distally for 1–2 mm a feature shared with few other species of subg. Homeria, notably the closely related M. elegans. The broad leaves are grey-green and usually 15–25 mm wide (occasionally narrower) and clasp the lower part of the stem. The species is heteroploid, with diploids and tetraploids in the Karoo and interior but hexaploid in Western Cape.
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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
Western Cape:
12 October 2000,
Peter Goldblatt 11628
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South Africa
Northern Cape:
3318 ft,
32°09'12"S 021°28'34"E,
27 September 2012,
Peter Goldblatt 13807
(NBG)
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South Africa
Northern Cape:
3318 ft,
32°09'12"S 021°28'34"E,
27 September 2012,
Peter Goldblatt 13807
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
07 September 1976,
Peter Goldblatt 4055
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
23 September 1976,
Peter Goldblatt 4178
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
23 September 1976,
Peter Goldblatt 4186
(MO)
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South Africa
Northern Cape:
30 September 1976,
Peter Goldblatt 4273
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
27 October 1976,
Peter Goldblatt 4410
(MO)
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South Africa
Northern Cape:
Peter Goldblatt 4681
(MO)
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South Africa
Western Cape:
2 October 1999,
Peter Goldblatt & I. Nänni 11183
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South Africa
Northern Cape:
31 August 1993,
Peter Goldblatt & John C. Manning 9672B
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South Africa
Western Cape:
20 September 1993,
Peter Goldblatt & John C. Manning 9743
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South Africa
Western Cape:
33°22'19"S 021°50'37"E,
10 September 2001,
Peter Goldblatt & Lendon J. Porter 11873
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South Africa
Western Cape:
2838 ft,
33°25'00"S 022°24'24"E,
06 October 2013,
Peter Goldblatt & Lendon J. Porter 13979
(MO)
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