Moraea pyrophila Goldblatt

Plants 150-300 mm high. Corm 15-25 mm diam.; tunics of coarse, tough black fibres. Stem usually flexed above sheath of foliage leaf, simple or few-branched, branches also flexed, bearing attenuate sheathing leaves 40-50 mm long. Foliage leaf solitary, inserted well above ground, channelled, 100-200 mm long, often shorter but sometimes exceeding stem, 6-10 mm wide, usually rigid with a prominent thickened, unifacial apex. Rhipidial spathes attenuate, 40-50(-60) mm long, outer ± 1/2 as long. Flowers long-lasting, pale yellow, tepal claws erect, forming a narrow cup 3-4 mm wide at mouth, enclosing stamens and style branches, limbs spreading horizontally; outer tepals ovate-oblong, 28-33 x 9-12 mm, claws 9-10 mm long; inner tepals obovate, slightly smaller. Filaments united in a puberulous column 4-5 mm long, broadest at base, tapering upward; anthers 5-6(-8) mm long, diverging slightly, yellow; pollen yellow. Ovary 6-10 mm long; style branches ± as long as anthers or slightly shorter, crests erect or curving inward, up to 1 mm long. Capsules 12-15(-20) mm long, ellipsoid.