Moraea tricolor Andrews

Plants small, 50-150 mm high. Corm ± 15 mm diam.; tunics of medium to coarse, pale fibres. Stem subterranean, unbranched, bearing cormlets at nodes. Foliage leaves usually 2(3) (excluding opposed leaf-like spathe enclosing flowers), subopposite, inserted at ground level, suberect to falcate, exceeding inflorescence, smooth or lightly hairy or velvety, margins ciliate, straight or slightly undulate. Rhipidial spathe smooth or sparsely hairy, inner 20-60(-100) mm long, outer not distinct from leaves. Flowers fugaceous, yellow, red, pink, light purple or violet, outer tepal limbs with yellow (rarely orange) nectar guide at bases edged in darker pigment; outer tepals 20-25 mm long, lanceolate, spreading to slightly reflexed, claws 12-14 mm long; inner tepals 20-25 mm long, lanceolate, limbs like the outer. Filaments 3-4 mm long, united at base; anthers 2.5-3.0 mm long; pollen yellow. Ovary ± cylindric, 8-10 mm long, usually exserted; style branches 4-5 mm long, crests 8-10 x 4-5 mm, broadly triangular, outer margins irregularly serrated. Capsules included bases of spathes and leaves, (7-)10-12 x 6 mm, soft walled. Seeds angular to subglobose, 1.0-1.4 x 1.3-2.0 mm, light brown with reticulate sculpturing.