Moraea fugax delicate plant

Moraea fugax is a slender plant growing one or two narrow, keeled leaves next to the flower stem, or trailing. The leaves emerge from the stem above ground level, not the plant base. The plant in picture has only one leaf borne erectly, taller than the stem. Leaf width is less than 5 mm.

In picture the stem zigzags between the short branches of the inflorescence, only one flower caught open among fruit, not the uppermost one.

Each flower only lasts from about noon or early afternoon to sunset on one day. There is a Latin verb, fugere, meaning to flee or escape. The specific name, fugax, is a Latin word meaning fleeing, timorous or shy, referring to the short-lived flowers (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist; iNaturalist).