Moraea Polystachya * Amazing Blue African Iris Flower * 5 Seeds * RARE * limited

Moraea polystachya was described (as Iris polystachya ) by Thunberg, the 'father of Cape botany', in 1782, from a collection he had made in the Eastern Cape 'in the area of the Sundays and Fish Rivers'. The species name polystachya, meaning many-branched, refers to the inflorescence, which differed greatly from the few-flowered species of the Western Cape already known to Thunberg. In a good year, usually in autumn, the large deep blue to violet iris-like flowers appear in eye-catching displays in the arid central interior of southern Africa. The plants are perennial geophytes, the leaves and aerial stems dying back to the large dark-coated corm during the period of dormancy following flowering and seeding. The flowering stem averages about 0.8 m tall although well-grown plants can be much taller. The flowering stem is many-branched at the top, and although each flower lasts only one day, a succession of flowers is produced so that the flowering period may last for six to eight weeks. A very drought tolerant species, long-blooming, vigorous and gets bigger and stronger every year . Moraea polystachya is easy and rewarding to grow.