Moraea stricta

Moraea stricta, commonly known in Afrikaans as the bloutulp (blue tulp or tulip), a name shared with other moraeas, and earlier scientifically called M. thomsonii, is a small but variable perennial growing annually from an underground corm. Coarse fibrous tunics cover the corm. 

The plant grows a single cylindrical (terete) leaf up to 60 cm tall. The leaf is usually not seen when the plant is in bloom during winter and spring, before the summer rain.

The flowers are blue, opening only during the few afternoons before they wither. The outer tepals have yellow nectar guides with dark markings.

The species distribution is in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as in several neighbouring countries.

The habitat is grassland, often in marshy places. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century. Ironically, the plant is sometimes regarded as a weed (Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist; www.zimbabweflora.co.zw; http://redlist.sanbi.org).