Plate 31. 



MORAEA iridioides. 



Cape Province, Transvaal, Natal. 



Ieideae. Tribe Moraeeab. 

 Moeaea, Linn, ; Benth. et ffoolc. f. Gen. Plant vol. iii. p. 688. 



Moraea iridioides, Linn. Mant. 28 ; Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 25. 



This is one of the largest and most handsome species in 

 the genus and is frequently cultivated in South African 

 gardens. Thunberg appears to have been the first collector 

 of this plant ; he gathered his specimens near the Zeekoe 

 Eiver in Humansdorp Division about 1772, but the species 

 was known in England before then, as there is a record 

 of Miller having it in cultivation in 1758. The first figure 

 of the species appeared in the Botanical Magazine in 1804 

 and it has been figured several times since. The present 

 illustration was made from specimens growing in the garden 

 of the Natal Herbarium, Durban. 



Desceiption : — A perennial plant with short underground 

 rhizomes. Leaves crowded in dense fan-shaped basal rosettes, 

 06-1-3 metres long, 1-2 cm. broad, linear, acute, equitant 

 at the base, glabrous. Peduncles equalling or exceeding the 

 leaves. Inflorescence corymbose. Spathe-valves 2, about 6*5 cm. 

 long, obtuse, tightly folded ; the outer smaller than the inner. 

 Perianth- segments 5-6 cm. long, 2-3 cm. broad, obovate, 

 obtuse, clawed at the base ; the 3 outer segments with an 

 orange-yellow keel, densely pilose at the base; the 3 inner 

 segments narrower, with dark markings above the claw. 

 Ovary ellipsoid. Stigmas purple, lanceolate, 2-lobed. Fruit 

 5 cm. long, 1*7 cm. in diameter, ellipsoid ; valves coriaceous. 

 Seeds discoid. 



F.P.S.A., 1921. 



