Moraea gawleri Spreng.

Plants 150-450 mm high. Corm 5-15 mm diam.; tunics light brown, with coarse, vertically ridged fibres. Stem few-several-branched, rarely simple, bearing acute sheathing leaves at upper nodes. Foliage leaves (1)2, lower basal, upper inserted from lowest aerial node, linear, ± falcate to weakly coiled, channelled, margins plane, undulate or crisped, mostly 3-6 mm wide. Rhipidial spathes green, becoming dry and brown apically, ± acute (attenuate), inner (8-)10-25 mm long, outer ± half as long. Flowers fugaceous, yellow, ± white, or pale brick-coloured, or combinations of these colours, outer tepal limbs ± spreading to reflexed to 40º, with yellow nectar guides at bases, often vanilla-scented; outer tepals 12-28 x 5-14 mm, claws slightly < 1/2 as long as limbs, inner tepals 10-20 mm long, similarly oriented. Filaments ± 6 mm long, united for ± half their length; anthers 2-3 mm long, red or yellow; pollen red or yellow. Ovary narrowly ovoid, 2-3 mm long, style branches 5-8 mm long, mostly held above tepals, crests lanceolate. Capsules ± globose to broadly elliptic, 5-10 x 4-5 mm. Seeds angular prismatic.