Moraea villosa subsp. villosa

Moraea villosa subsp. villosa has large showy flowers that may be purple, lilac or pink. The iridescent blotches of blue or green on the large outer tepals as well as their yellow nectar guides enhance the vividness of the flowers.

This plant grows endemically in limited parts of the Western Cape between Gordons Bay and Piketberg. Sadly, they are today restricted to residual patches of the original habitat on the edge of what used to be the Swartland renosterveld, as well as granite or clay fynbos in the south of the distribution area. Extensive wheat farming and other human invasion activities have removed the renosterbos, which ended the days of M. villosa flourishing in what used to be a richly diverse plant treasure.

M. villosa are pollinated by monkey beetles or scarabs, one of which was caught in the act on this flower photographed in the Elandsberg Private Nature Reserve.

This flower may be grown from seed or corms. One way may be in pots under conditions that resemble those of their habitat. The plant material is, however, not easily obtained from nurseries at present and the remaining plants in the wild should be left undisturbed at all costs (www.plantzafrica.com; Bean and Johns, 2005).