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Moraea aristata
Also called Blue Eyed Moraea, Peacock Moraea
Moraea aristata is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. It is referred to by the common names blue-eyed uintjie or Blouooguintjie in Afrikaans. It is endemic to the city of Cape Town and is considered to be critically endangered.
This plant naturally only occurs in Peninsula Shale Renosterveld vegetation in northern Cape Town. Due to the growth of the city, its habitat now mostly lies under urban sprawl. Until recently, it only naturally survived in the grounds of the South African Astronomical Observatory in the suburb of Observatory near the foot of Devil's Peak. This tiny, isolated population is not sustainable in the long term due to low genetic diversity and ongoing human disturbance. In 2017 and 2018, it was reintroduced to the Rondebosch Common, providing new hope for its survival in the wild. The species has also become naturalised in Australia.
Matrix Uintjie · Tar Tulp · Cape Tulip · Threadstalk Tulp · One-leaf Cape tulip · Lunch Clockflower · Moraea garipensis · Crisp Tulp · Great Flappie · Granite Tulp · Moraea hexaglottis · Ostrich Threadstar
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Moraea aristata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
