Botanical name |
Moraea stricta |
Other names |
Moraea thomsonii, tulp (Afrikaans) |
Family |
Iridaceae |
Dimensions |
A bulbous plant of about 20 cm in height |
Description of stem |
Erect, sturdy with a few branches |
Description of leaves |
Single long, narrow leaf appears after the flower in spring |
Description of flowers |
Delicate flowers of about 2,5 cm across, pale blue to lilac, with round orange spots (or nectar guides) on the outer three tepals that are much broader than the erect inner three and also positioned horizontally or pendulous with faint lines radiating out from the spots that have dark blue or grey lines around them; the individual flower soon dies off; flowers appear at the end of the dry winter period |
Desciption of seed/fruit |
Obovoid capsule |
Description of roots |
Grows from a corm base of about 2 cm in diameter, with a coarse dark fibrous covering or tunic; small corms form around the main one among the fibres |
Variation |
|
Propagation and cultivation |
Can be grown from seed, also by transplanting corms, although a low survival rate has been reported for both methods |
Tolerances |
Drought resistant |
Uses |
The corms are said to be eaten by locals in Lesotho; some Moraea species are poisonous to livestock |
Ecological rarity |
Common |
Pests and diseases |
|
Other |
The Iris Society Newsletter can be found at www.bc-iris.org |
Location |
In grassland and on hilly slopes |
Distribution (SA provinces) |
Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West |
Country |
South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique and northward to Ethiopia |