Tropicos | Name - !Moraea demissa Goldblatt

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Iridaceae in sub-Saharan Africa

African Iridaceae > Iridaceae > Moraea > Moraea demissa

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!Moraea demissa Goldblatt

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

Acceptance : Accepted

Taxon Profile (Last Modified On 7/18/2016)

Description: Plants small, 70–200 mm high. Corm 5–10 mm diam.; tunics of black or brown, wiry or ± soft textured fibres. Stem sharply flexed above sheath of foliage leaf, few- to several-branched, branches also flexed, bearing attenuate sheathing leaves 150–300 mm long. Foliage leaf solitary, inserted shortly to well above ground, linear, exceeding stem, channelled, 2–3 mm wide. Rhipidial spathes attenuate, inner initally 20–40(–60) mm long, later elongating to enclose developing capsules, outer 15–25 mm long. Flowers fugaceous, pale to deep yellow, tepals limbs with small deep yellow nectar guides at bases, spreading, claws suberect, forming a narrow cup ± 3 mm deep including lower 1/2 of filament column; outer tepals oblong, 10–12 × ± 6 mm, claws 2–3 mm long, inner tepals lanceolate, 9–11 × 4 mm. Filaments united in a smooth cylindric column 5–6 mm long; anthers 1.5–2.0 mm long, diverging from base; yellow; pollen yellow. Ovary ± cylindric, 5–8 mm long, included; style branches 1.5–2.0 mm long, flattened, stigma bilobed, reaching mid to upper part of anthers, stigmatic laterally, crests very short, often obscured by anthers. Capsules clavate-cylindric, 8–11 mm long, included. Seeds angular. Chromosome number 2n = 10, 9, 8. Flowering time: mid August to early October; flowers open ± 14:00 and fade near nightfall.

Type specimen: F.R. Rudolf Schlechter - 8647 - MO - (BC:MO-202534/A:2150587)

Country: South Africa

South African Province: Western Cape

Distribution and ecology: restricted to northwestern Western Cape, extending from the Gifberg and Matsikamma Mtns through the Cedarberg to the Cold Bokkeveld; on sandstone pavement, rocky sandstone slopes and on loamy clay.

Diagnosis: the smallest species of subg. Homeria, Moraea demissa has a solitary leaf, flexuose stem and yellow flowers with tepals only 9–12 mm long. The tepal claws are suberect and form a narrow cup that includes the lower half of the filaments. Cytologically the species is of considerable interest as chromosome counts have revealed populations with diploid numbers of 2n = 10, 9 and 8, with 2n = 9 most common. The latter number, 9, has also been recorded in the related M. flavescens. These two species contrast sharply with the basic × = 6 found in all other species of the genus except the unrelated M. pallida, a form of which has 8. The significance of three different chromosome numbers in M. demissa has yet to be explained. Plants from sample populations grown in the greenhouse have proved to be autogamous.