Moraea brevistyla

Moraea brevistyla, commonly known as the partridge moraea, sometimes the shortstyle uintjie and scientifically previously M. pubiflora subsp. brevistyla, is a cormous perennial producing a single narrow leaf and flower stem annually in spring. The stem reaches heights from 20 cm to 50 cm, its leaf about 60 cm long and 4 mm wide.

The white or sometimes pale bluish lilac flowers are about 2 cm in diameter. The three conspicuous outer tepals have yellow nectar guides at the lobe bases. These lobes are rounded with variably pointed tips, spreading to reflexed. The three inner tepals are tiny and erect, each with three narrow lobes, the middle one longest. Flowers last a few days each, blooming from late spring to early autumn.

The species distribution is inland in KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho, slightly into the Eastern Cape, the eastern Free State and Mpumalanga.

The habitat is high elevation moist grassland, near streams and in seeps. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http:///redlist.sanbi.org).