Moraea huttonii

Moraea huttonii, the large golden vlei moraea or large golden vlei iris, is a cormous perennial that reaches about 1 m in height and forms large clumps. Only one leaf grows with the usually branched flower stalk per corm. The corms are covered in pale, papery tunics. Dark brown cataphylls cover the stem base and lower leaf parts.

The yellow flowers are without the commonly seen dark rings around the deeper yellow nectar guides on the outer tepals in this photo. Only faintly brown lines, parallel and oblique, showing veins, are seen in the nectar guides in the photo. The brown blotches normally found on the style branches are also not visible on this specimen. The smaller inner tepals are erect and spatula-shaped. Flowering happens from midspring to early summer.

The species distribution is in the east of South Africa, in the Eastern Cape, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, as well as in some neighbouring countries.

The habitat is grassland near watercourses and also in the upper reaches of the Drakensberg and Maluti Mountains. The photo was taken during November. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).