Moraea gigandra L.Bolus

Plants 200-400 mm high, usually unbranched. Corms ± 15 mm diam.; tunics of fine inner fibres and coarse woody outer fibres. Stem velvety, simple or 1-branched, sheathing leaves with attenuate, brown apices, 50-70 mm long. Foliage leaf solitary, basal, linear, sparsely hairy or glabrous on adaxial surface, usually exceeding stem, trailing distally. Rhipidial spathes with dry, dark brown attenuate apices, inner 50-80 mm long, outer ± 3/4 as long. Flowers long-lived, blue-violet, (rarely white or orange), outer tepal limbs with narrow, dark blue-turquoise, crescent-shaped nectar guides at bases, spreading, claws densely hairy, dark brown; outer tepals 35-45 mm long, claw ± 6 mm long, broad, limbs 30-38 x 18-35 mm, inner tepals 9-15 mm long, 3-lobed, lateral lobes short, obtuse, central lobes linear, much longer, spreading to laxly reflexed. Filaments 2-4 mm long, free in upper 1 mm; anthers 13-15 mm long, dark blue, much exceeding style crests; pollen yellow. Ovary ± cylindric, 18-22 mm long; style branches ± 6 x 2 mm, crests vestigial, barely exceeding stigma lobe. Capsules 20-30 mm long, narrowly obovoid. Seeds unknown.