Moraea vallisavium Goldblatt

Plants 100-340 mm high. Corm small, 4-6 mm diam., with corms of past seasons persisting beneath; tunics of fine netted fibres usually accumulating as a collar around base. Stem ± erect to inclined, unbranched, bearing a single sheathing leaf 15-40 mm long with margins free to base. Foliage leaf solitary, linear, unifacial, inserted above ground level, ± 2 mm wide, exceeding stem and falcate to trailing. Rhipidial spathes green, inner 30-40 mm long, obtuse to truncate, outer ± half as long. Flowers fugaceous, yellow, claws darkly speckled, outer tepal limbs with deep yellow nectar guides at bases; outer tepals 20-24 x 8-10 mm, claws ascending, 9-10 mm long, limb horizontal to slightly reflexed; inner tepals 16-19 x 7 mm, claw 6-8 mm long, slightly reflexed. Filaments ± 5 mm long, united in lower 2 mm; anthers 5-6 mm long; pollen red. Ovary 8-10 mm long, triangular in section; style branches ± 8 x 4 mm, crests 6-10 mm long, erect. Capsules narrowly top-shaped, slightly 3-lobed, 12-17 mm long, dehiscent in upper 1/3. Seeds ± angular, 2 x 1 mm.