Moraea cantharophila Goldblatt & J.C.Manning

Plants 200-450 mm high. Corm globose, 15-20 mm diam.; tunics of coarse, pale straw-coloured, netted fibres. Stem straight or flexed at nodes, arching outward below inflorescence, 2 or 3 internodes long, sheathing leaf 45-55 mm long, green with ± dry, attenuate apex, simple or with 1(2) branches. Foliage leaf solitary, linear, channelled, arching outward, overtopping the stem and often dry distally, mostly 2.5-3.5 mm wide, ± basal. Rhipidial spathes green with dry attenuate apices, inner 45-65 mm long, outer ± 2/3 as long. Flowers long-lived, white or cream-coloured, darkly veined on reverse of tepals, outer tepal limbs with a yellow or orange nectar guide outlined in dark purple at bases, claws mostly yellow, inner tepals each with a broad, dark purple-brown central band and pinkish edge, tepal limbs spreading ± horizontally or the tips curving upward, claws ascending, forming a cup ± 12 mm wide at mouth, enclosing filament column and anther bases; outer tepals larger than inner, limbs obovate, (15-)18-20 x 14-19 mm, claws ± 10 mm long, smooth or papillate; inner tepal limbs 8-15 x 5-11 mm. Filaments 4-5 mm long, united almost to apices in a smooth, cylindric column, free in upper 0.5-1.0 mm, greenish to dark purple; anthers ± 6 mm long, purple; pollen orange. Ovary oblong-3-lobed, 7-12 mm long, exserted; style branches 6-7 x ± 3 mm, ascending, yellow to pink, crests triangular, uniformly salmon-pink, ± erect, 2.5-4.0 mm long. Capsules ± ovoid-ellipsoid, 16-18 mm long. Seeds unknown.