Moraea ramosissima

Moraea ramosissima, commonly known in Afrikaans as vlei-uintjie (marsh nutgrass) or geeltulp (yellow moraea) and previously scientifically as M. bulbifera, is a robust herb, growing annual above-ground parts from a perennial corm to heights from 50 cm to 1,2 m. The several to many furrowed leaves are without midribs, long, acutely pointed and about 1 cm wide.

The plant branches much. The specific name, ramosissima, is derived from the Latin word ramus meaning branch and the Latin word parts -osus indicating abundance and -issimus indicating superlative level or most, referring to the numerous stem-branches.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Gifberg to the Eastern Cape as far as Humansdorp, possibly Gqeberha.

The habitat is damp sandstone flats, slopes and seeps in grassy fynbos, renosterveld, transitional shrubveld and succulent Karoo. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The corms are eaten and thereby also sometimes dispersed by baboons (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Andrew, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).