April 2010
Feature - Magnificant Peacock Moraeas
Text and photographs by Graham Duncan 

The genus Moraea is a member of the Iridaceae (Iris) family and encompasses about 200 species. The species are distributed widely in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. MORAEA fugax (formerly M. edulis) has edible corms that taste like boiled chestnuts, but the leaves and corms of some of the other species are deadly poisonous, sometimes causing heavy losses amongst livestock. The winter rainfall zone of the Western Cape has the highest diversity and most moraeas have a winter-growing cycle, with much smaller numbers of summer growing and evergreen plants. The ‘peacock’ moraeas are famous for their brightly coloured tepals and often striking contrasting markings, especially their prominent 'eyes' of iridescent green, blue, black or orange, which act as nectar guides for the monkey beetles that pollinate the flowers. (Apart from monkey beetles, they also attract bees to the garden.) Individual flowers of many Moraea species last less than a day, but those of the peacock moraeas last three days each.

The peacock moraeas require a sunny location, well drained, slightly acidic, sandy soils containing well decomposed compost, free air circulation, heavy drenching in winter and spring, and a completely dry summer rest; in these conditions they are not difficult to grow. The corms are planted in autumn at a depth of 3 cm. They are also easily raised from seeds sown in autumn in a sandy medium, and take three years to reach maturity. The corms are relished by porcupines and mole rats and sometimes scratched out by guinea fowl. Thus, in areas where these creatures pose a threat, the corms are best grown in deep pots, in a protected location. The plants are sensitive to prolonged cold or frost. Three of the most rewarding moraeas to try are M. villosa, M. tulbaghensis and M. elegans. They are not available from general garden centres, but only from specialist indigenous bulb nurseries. (Seeds of M. tulbaghensis are available from the seed department at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.)

Philip Miller, the Scottish horticulturist and botanist, coined the genus name Morea in 1758 in honour of English botanist Robert More. Its spelling was altered to Moraea by Linnaeus.

MORAEA villosa

M. villosa is the most well-known of the peacock moraeas. It is a beautiful and very variable species with pink, purple, blue or reddish-orange flowers, and prominent green, blue or black ‘eyes’. It grows up to 40 cm high and is restricted to stony hillsides and flats in the area between Piketberg, Ceres and the Cape Flats, east of Cape Town. It has a single grass-like leaf that is hairy on the outer surface, hence the specific name villosa. It does very well in deep pots or rock garden pockets and must be kept well watered throughout winter and especially during the spring flowering period (August and September), but must be allowed to dry off completely once the leaves start turning yellow in early summer.

MORAEA elegans
M. elegans is a very variable, sweet-scented, yellow-flowered species with bright green or orange ‘peacock’ markings and a single long, smooth, greenish-grey leaf. Native to the southern Cape between Caledon and Bredasdorp, it is endangered in the wild due to large-scale destruction of its fertile renosterveld habitat, which is now used for agricultural purposes. It grows in colonies on lower hillsides and flats in seasonally moist, heavy clay soil. The plants grow up to 35 cm high and are suited to rock garden pockets and deep pots (25 to 30 cm in diameter). They flower for a month in August and September. M. elegans was previously known as HOMERIA elegans.

MORAEA tulbaghensis
A spectacular orange- or brick red-flowered species, the 'peacock' eyes of M. tulbaghensis are emerald green or royal blue and the tepals are often attractively dotted with black just below the eye. The species was described in 1932 from plants collected at Tulbagh (the specific name honours this picturesque town). Confined in the wild to a small area of the south western Cape between Tulbagh and Wellington, the plants are severely threatened by the ever-increasing cultivation of winter cereal crops like wheat. The plants reach a height of up to 50 cm and flower prolifically from mid September to early October. Seeds of this species are available from the seed department at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden (e-mail enquiries can be sent to seedroom@sanbi.org).