Moraea

Moraea is a huge genus in the Iridaceae family. Most of the 220-plus species of Moraea are found in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 120 species native to the Cape Floral Province of South Africa. Some Moraea species grow in the summer, but most are winter-growing, and many have purple or yellow flowers that look like miniature beardless irises. Some Moraea species are known as "Peacock flowers" because they have very brightly colored flowers with contrasting centers. Cameron McMaster wrote articles about this genus in South Africa for Farmers Weekly in 2008. The first is an introduction and discussion of the summer flowering species. The second discusses the winter rainfall species.

In 1998, Moraea was merged by taxonomists with several other genera. Major groupings within the merged genus include:

• Galaxia, formerly a separate genus of low-growing but brightly colored regular flowers,
• Gynandriris, formerly a separate genus,
• Hexaglottis, including two former genera, Roggeveldia and Hexaglottis,
• Homeria, formerly its own genus, which includes some vigorous plants that set large numbers of orange and yellow flowers, and
• Moraea, which contains the species that were formerly known as Moraea before the consolidation.

To help growers cope with the changes, we created separate pages for each subgroup, and listed the species whose names were changed under their new names along with their old names. In 2013, based on molecular studies the genus was reorganized again into 11 subgenera. We have not yet restructured the Moraea part of the wiki to take into account that new organization, but you can see the paper on it here, and a summary of the taxonomy here. More information can be learned from Peter Goldblatt's book on Moraeas and Manning, Goldblatt, Snijman, 2002.

These photos illustrate species in the Galaxia, Gynandriris, Hexaglottis, and Homeria subgroups.

These photos illustrate species in the Moraea subgroup.

To grow Moraea from seeds, sow them in a well drained mix and allow the plants to have temperature fluctuations of warm days and cool nights. Plant winter-growing species in fall, and summer-growing species in spring. Most species will tolerate light frost but not extended freezes. Depending on the species, germination can happen within three weeks or take as long as three years (Dell Sherk). Most species take three years to go from seed to flower, but Moraea polystachya and Moraea villosa were reported to flower in 1-2 years (Mary Sue Ittner). Will Ashburner recorded germination and flowering time of 12 species where the first number is weeks to germination and the second is weeks to flowering. Moraea alticola (10, 118), Moraea bellendenii (5, 130), Moraea bubalina (5, 136), Moraea insolens (5, 129), Moraea macronyx (5, 120), Moraea moggii (29, 136), Moraea ramosissima (6, 130), Moraea serpentina (3, 130), Moraea spathulata (6, 135), Moraea thomsonii (6, 128), Moraea tricuspidata (5, 126), Moraea tripetala (3, 121-124).

You can find information on pollinating Moraea flowers here.

Bob Werra gave a talk at the 2006 Indigenous Bulb Association of South Africa's symposium. The title of his talk was Mad about Moraeas. He discussed his experience growing this genus in Ukiah, California and passed out a sheet summarizing his experiences and rating the ones he grows. He has kindly allowed this summary to be added to the wiki.

More information about specific species can be found by accessing the wiki pages listed below or by clicking on the links for the species in the table.
Galaxia - Gynandriris - Hexaglottis - Homeria a-j - Homeria k-z - Moraea group a - Moraea group b - Moraea group c-e - Moraea group f - Moraea group g-i - Moraea group j-m - Moraea group n-r - Moraea group s - Moraea group t - Moraea group u-v - Moraea Hybrids

Moraea species
Moraea albicuspa	Moraea albiflora	Moraea algoensis	Moraea alpina	Moraea alticola
Moraea amabilis	Moraea amissa	Moraea angulata	Moraea angusta	Moraea anomala
Moraea aristata	Moraea atropunctata	Moraea australis	Moraea barkerae	Moraea barnardiella
Moraea barnardii	Moraea bellendenii	Moraea bifida	Moraea bipartita	Moraea bituminosa
Moraea bolusii	Moraea brevistyla	Moraea britteniae	Moraea bubalina	Moraea bulbillifera
Moraea caeca	Moraea calcicola	Moraea cantharophila	Moraea cedarmontana	Moraea ciliata
Moraea citrina	Moraea collina	Moraea comptonii	Moraea contorta	Moraea cookii
Moraea cooperi	Moraea crispa	Moraea cuspidata	Moraea debilis	Moraea decipiens
Moraea deltoidea	Moraea deserticola	Moraea doleritica	Moraea dracomontana	Moraea eburnea
Moraea elegans	Moraea elliotii	Moraea elsiae	Moraea exiliflora	Moraea falcifolia
Moraea fenestrata	Moraea fergusoniae	Moraea filamentosa	Moraea filicaulis	Moraea flaccida
Moraea flavescens	Moraea fugacissima	Moraea fugax	Moraea galaxia	Moraea gawleri
Moraea gigandra	Moraea gracilenta	Moraea graminicola	Moraea grandis	Moraea hainebachiana
Moraea helmei	Moraea herrei	Moraea hiemalis	Moraea huttonii	Moraea hybrids - Homeria group
Moraea hybrids - Moraea group	Moraea inclinata	Moraea inconspicua	Moraea incurva	Moraea insolens
Moraea intermedia	Moraea karroica	Moraea lazulina	Moraea lewisiae	Moraea lilacina
Moraea longiaristata	Moraea longifolia	Moraea longistyla	Moraea loubseri	Moraea lugubris
Moraea lurida	Moraea luteoalba	Moraea macgregorii	Moraea macrocarpa	Moraea macronyx
Moraea marionae	Moraea marlothii	Moraea mediterranea	Moraea melanops	Moraea miniata
Moraea minor	Moraea modesta	Moraea muddii	Moraea mutila	Moraea nana
Moraea natalensis	Moraea neglecta	Moraea neopavonia *	Moraea ochroleuca	Moraea ogamana
Moraea pallida	Moraea papilionacea	Moraea pendula	Moraea petricola	Moraea pilifolia
Moraea polyanthos	Moraea polystachya	Moraea pritzeliana	Moraea pseudospicata	Moraea pubiflora
Moraea pyrophila	Moraea radians	Moraea ramosissima	Moraea reflexa	Moraea regalis
Moraea reticulata	Moraea riparia	Moraea rivulicola	Moraea saxicola	Moraea schlechteri
Moraea serpentina	Moraea setifolia	Moraea simulans	Moraea singularis	Moraea sisyrinchium
Moraea spathulata	Moraea speciosa	Moraea striata	Moraea stricta	Moraea thermarum
Moraea thomasiae	Moraea tortilis	Moraea tricolor	Moraea tricuspidata	Moraea trifida
Moraea tripetala	Moraea tulbaghensis	Moraea umbellata	Moraea unguiculata	Moraea vallisbelli
Moraea variabilis	Moraea vegeta	Moraea versicolor	Moraea vespertina	Moraea vigilans
Moraea villosa	Moraea virgata	Moraea viscaria	Moraea vuvuzela	Moraea worcesterensis
Moraea 'Zoe'

Galaxia - Gynandriris - Hexaglottis - Homeria a-j - Homeria k-z - Moraea group a - Moraea group b - Moraea group c-e - Moraea group f - Moraea group g-i - Moraea group j-m - Moraea group n-r - Moraea group s - Moraea group t - Moraea group u-v - Moraea Hybrids