Romulea vlokii M.P. de Vos

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 : 97

54. Romulea vlokii M.P. de Vos

Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 55 (1983). — Type: Vlok 384, South Africa, Eastern Cape, Kammanassie Mts., Buffelsberg , near Diepkloof (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 25-35 cm high, stem subterranean; corm pointed at base with straight acuminate teeth. Leaves 3-5, basal, narrowly 4-grooved; outer bracts with distinct brown-spotted membranous margins and conspicuous membranous apices, inner bracts with wide brown-spotted membranous margins. Flowers pink, apparently without dark blotches around the orange-yellow cup, tepals oblanceolate, 32-40 mm long; filaments 4-5 mm long, anthers c. 7 mm long. Flowering: July-Aug.

A narrow endemic of the Kammanassie Mountains of the eastern Little Karoo in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Romulea vlokii is closely allied to R. cruciata and distinguished from it by the bracts with brown-spotted membranous margins and tips and flowers without dark blotches in the throat. The bracts recall those of several species of section Spatalanthus and led DE VOS to ally it to species in this section despite the differences in the corm tunics.