The beautiful Moraea Villosa is a species of peacock moraea.
It is normally a group of plants named for the large conspicuous eye-shaped patterns on the board outer petals of the flowers as found on the feathers of a peacock. There are two subspecies recognized; M.V.Villosa has purple, pink, blue, or whitish petals, whereas the other M.V. Elandmontana is bright orange.
The pattern consists of a green to blue or close to black iridescent crescent, surrounding a cream to orange, and the eye is covered with long hairs. The complete shape is normally edged in dark violet. The delicate flowers grow from August to September, with only one flower at one time, and remain in blooms for just a mere two days, normally opening in the late morning, and opening until the early afternoon of the following day.
The primary pollinator of Moraea villosa is commonly referred to as monkey beetles, due to their dark, hairy bodies and elongated or thickened hind legs. The attractive flower Moraea normally participated in great abundance in the mass-spring flower display of the cape lowlands. Although 80% of its habitat is wheat fields and urban expansion, only some population remains in isolated renosterveld fragments.
Populations on these trivial fragments, which are surrounded by crop fields, are endangered by a lack of fire, loss of pollinators, pollution by pesticides and fertilizer, and invasion by alien plants, predominantly grasses, which find favorable habitats in the fertilizer-enriched soil.
Moraea Villosa is an everlasting cormous geophyte, normally growing 40 cm tall, its stems are soft and hairy, and its leaves are normally longer than the stem. It is also classified as vulnerable, because of its minor population size, and only one population of about 350 plants is known.
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