Moraea hesperantha (Goldblatt) Goldblatt

Plants 400-650 mm high. Corm 20-30 mm diam.; tunics of wiry, pale, mealy fibres. Stem suberect, sometimes with 1 or more long branches from near base and with short, subsessile lateral branches; upper nodes with sheathing leaves ± as long as spathes. Foliage leaves 2, linear, much longer than stem, suberect, trailing distally, channelled, 6-8 mm wide, margins straight. Rhipidial spathes becoming membranous with fine longitudinal veins, inner 45-60 mm long, outer slightly shorter. Flowers fugaceous, violet, outer tepal limbs with yellow nectar guides at bases, half reflexed; outer tepals 26-29 x 10 mm, claws diverging, ± 10 mm long, inner tepals narrowly lanceolate, suberect, 22-26 x 5 mm. Filaments 5.0-6.5 mm long, united in lower 1/3-1/2; anthers 7-8 mm long, violet; pollen yellow. Ovary ± cylindric, 40-55 mm long, fertile in lower ± 12 mm; style branches 9-12 mm long, diverging, crests 7-9 mm long. Capsules and seeds unknown.