A perennial herb growing up to 40 cm high with a corm and a branched stem. The single leaf is keeled, trailing and much longer than the stem. The flowers are white, blue or yellow, strongly scented, about 4 cm in diameter and borne in a compact branched flower-head. Usually only one flower is open at a time.
Commonly known as the Soetuintjie (Small Sweet Onion) and comes in the amazing color seen here as well as a yellow and is a species which is featured quite prominently in Khoisan traditions along with the Wild Fig as “food-on-the-go” as it has fantastic nutritional value for the hunter/gatherer crowd. The corms are the part of the plant which the Khoisan were after. The San and Khoe ate many plants that store food underground in roots, bulbs, corms or rhizomes . These plants are called “uintjies”, which means “small onions” in Dutch .
In herbal medicine circles the flowers have also been added to remedies to help calm down patients during therapy where emotional stress plays a major factor in their recovery.
Overall today, another very useful plant to the people who know about it, but I have to put a warning not to go eat every Moraea plant you come across. Most are poisonous, so its wise to take someone or a guide along when you are planning to be out in nature, unassisted, where you may have to forage off the land.
So with that, we conclude this weeks Fynbos Friday post, a beautiful flower with practical application. Bliss. Have a great weekend.
