Romulea setifolia N.E. Br.

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 : 95

50. Romulea setifolia N.E. Br.

Gard. Chron., sér. 3, 92: 467 (1932); M . P . de Vos, J . S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 171 (1972); Fl. S . Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 39 (1983). — Type: Muir 4847, South Africa, Western Cape, Mossel Bay, Gourits River (holo-, K!; iso-, PRE!) .

Plants 5-25 cm, stem subterranean or reaching 12 cm above ground; corm with a crescent-shaped basal ridge of fibril clusters. Leaves 3-6, mostly basal, narrowly 4-grooved, 0.5-1.5 mm diam.; outer bracts with narrow membranous margins, inner bracts with white or rarely brown-edged membranous margins. Flowers yellow to apricot, sometimes with dark blotches in the throat, tepals 8-35 mm long, elliptic; filaments 4-6 mm long, anthers 2-7 mm long. Fruiting peduncles remaining suberect. Flowering: July-Sep.

Romulea setifolia has a wide range, extending from the Bokkeveld Mountains to Port Elizabeth, this encompassing a large portion of the southern African winter-rainfall zone. Plants seem to favor sandy or stony flats. The species is distinguished in section Aggregatae by the stem always branching below the ground and the inner bracts usually with colorless margins, very narrow above and broader below. Flower size is strikingly variable in the species. Smaller flowers with tepals 8-15 mm long are most common but plants from the western Karoo may have flowers with tepals 30-35 mm long.