Moraea fergusoniae L.Bolus

Plants 100-200 mm high. Corm 5-15 mm diam.; tunics of pale medium fibres. Stem usually 2-to 4-branched from base, rarely simple, mostly (1)2 internodes long, sheathing leaves 1 per branch, green with dry, brown apices, 16-22 mm long. Foliage leaves 3 to 6, basal, shallowly channelled, shorter to ± as long as stem, 5-10 mm wide, dark green, falcate or loosely twisted, margins ciliate, undulate to crisped. Rhipidial spathes with dry, brown, attenuate apices, inner 26-38 mm long, outer ± half as long. Flowers long-lived, white to creamy white or blue, often flushed purple to brown outside, outer tepal limbs with yellow nectar guides at bases, spreading to half reflexed; outer tepals lanceolate, ± 20 mm long, claws ascending, slightly shorter than limbs; inner tepals erect, 8-12 mm long, either entire, narrowly lanceolate or 3-lobed with a long central cusp and 2 small, rounded lateral lobes. Filaments ± 4 mm long, united or free in upper 1 mm; anthers 3 mm long, yellow; pollen yellow. Ovary ellipsoid, ± 5 mm long; style branches 3-5 mm long, crests linear, 5-7 mm long. Capsules club-shaped, ± 7 mm long. Seeds angular, prismatic.