Moraea huttonii

Moraea huttonii, the golden vlei moraea, is a cormous perennial of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal grassland, growing near watercourses and also in the upper reaches of the Drakensberg and Maluti Mountains. This specimen was photographed during November, flowering in habitat. The plant reaches 1 m in height and forms large, noticeable clumps. Only one leaf grows with the usually branched flower stalk per corm.

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. The species flowers from mid-spring to early summer (Manning, 2009; www.pacificbulbsociety.org).