''Moraea bellendenii'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of plant in

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Moraea ''Moraea'', the Cape tulips, is a genus of plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1758. The group is widespread across Africa, the Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, ...

'' that was named after

John Bellenden John Bellenden or Ballantyne ( 1533–1587?) of Moray (why Moray, a lowland family) was a Scottish writer of the 16th century. Life He was born towards the close of the 15th century, and educated at St. Andrews and Paris. At the request of ...

, the English botanist. It is common in the Western Cape on sandy slopes and flats, this yellow flowered

corm Corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen, underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ''c ...

ous

geophyte A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or water. Storage organs often grow underground, where they are better protected from attack by herbivores. Plants that have ...

is usually 50 – 100 cm high, multi-branched, with a solitary leaf. The outer

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s of the flowers are 22 – 33 mm long and the inner tepals tricuspidate, 8 – 10 mm long. It flowers from October to November. Its distribution ranges in the Western Cape from Darling in the west to

Plettenberg Bay Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. According to the census of 2001, the town had a population of 29,149. It was originally named Bahia Formosa ("Be ...

in the East. It is closely related to ''

Moraea tricuspidata ''Moraea'', the Cape tulips, is a genus of plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1758. The group is widespread across Africa, the Mediterranean, and central and southwestern Asia. The genus name is a tribute to the English ...

''. It was first described as ''Vieusseuxia bellendenii'' by Robert Sweet in 1826. In 1929

N. E. Brown Nicholas Edward Brown (11 July 1849 in Redhill, Surrey – 25 November 1934 in Kew Gardens, London) was an English plant taxonomist and authority on succulents. He was also an authority on several families of plants, including Asclepiadaceae, A ...

revised the assessment of the species and authored it as "''Morea Bellendeni''" (now ''Moraea bellendenii'').

References

Goldblatt: The Moraeas of Southern Africa. Annals of Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardent Vol.14 CTP Book Printers Cape 1986. bellendenii Plants described in 1826 Taxa named by N. E. Brown Taxa named by Robert Sweet (botanist) {{Iridaceae-stub