Romulea sabulosa Schltr. ex Bég.

Manning, John C. & Goldblatt, Peter, 2001, the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra including new species, biological notes, and a new infrageneric classification, Adansonia (3) 23 (1), pp. 59-108 : 105

73. Romulea sabulosa Schltr. ex Bég.

Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 38: 334 (1907); M . P . de Vos , J . S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 279 (1972); Fl. S . Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 68 (1983). — Type: Schlechter 10964, South Africa, Northern Cape, Bokkeveld Mts. , Oorlogskloof (lecto-, G, designated by M. P. DE VOS, 1972; isolecto-, B, BM, BOL!, GRA, K!, P, PRE!, S, Z) .

Plants 12-40 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 3-5, basal, filiform, 4-grooved, c. 1 mm diam.; outer bracts usually keeled above, with narrow, usually brown membranous margins, inner bracts 2-keeled usually with brown membranous margins. Flowers dark red, rarely pink, with black blotches at the edge of a creamy green cup, unscented, tepals obovate-cuneate, 25-40 mm long; filaments 3-5 mm long, anthers 8-12 mm long. Fruiting peduncles suberect. Flowering: July-Sep. — Fig. 2D .

Romulea sabulosa is a local endemic that grows in large populations in renosterveld on clay and sandy soils on the Bokkeveld Escarpment west of Nieuwoudtville. It is closely related to R. monadelpha , which has similar large red flowers with a pale cup and prominently marked with dark blotches at the base of the tepals. The leaf anatomy of both species is also similar, with a band of subepidermal sclerenchyma along the ribs. The species are best distinguished by details of the filaments. In R. sabulosa the filaments are usually pale greenish and taper from a pubescent base as in most other species of Romulea while in R. monadelpha the black filaments are either united into a short, stout glabrous column or when free are oblong and do not taper toward the apex. Another differences is in the peduncle, which in R. sabulosa is subterete and remains suberect in fruit, but in R. monadelpha is somewhat stouter, with the upper side conspicuously flattened, and is curved in fruit.

Figures

Fig. 2. — Flowers of Romulea species: A, R. tabularis; B, R. saldanhensis; C, R. tortuosa; D, R. sabulosa; E, R. eximia; F, R. sulphurea; G, R. namaquensis; H, R. komsbergensis.