Romulea cruciata (Jacq.) Baker

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 : 96

52. Romulea cruciata (Jacq.) Baker

J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 16: 89 (1877) ; M. P. de Vos , J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 259 (1972); Fl . S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 65 (1983). — Ixia cruciata Jacq., Ic. Pl. Rar. 2: pl. 290 (1790). — Type: South Africa, Western Cape, without precise locality or collector (illustration in Ic. Pl. Rar.: pl. 290) .

Plants 15-40 cm high, stem subterranean; corm pointed at base with straight acuminate teeth. Leaves 2-8, basal, narrowly or widely 4-grooved, 1-4 mm diam.; outer bracts with narrow, hardly visible membranous margins, inner bracts submembranous with wide, usually brown-flecked membranous margins. Flowers magenta to lilac with dark blotches around the dark yellow cup, unscented, tepals elliptic to oblanceolate, 20-35 mm long; filaments 3-6 mm long, anthers 4-8 mm long. Fruiting peduncles remaining erect or slightly spreading. Flowering: July-Sep.

Romulea cruciata is most common in the southwestern Cape but extends from the Bokkeveld Mountains in Northern Cape Province in the north as far east as the Gourits River in Western Cape Province. It is most often found on clay or granitic soils in renosterveld. The central species of section Cruciatae, Romulea cruciata is recognized by the magenta to lilac flowers with a deep yellow to orange cup and unmarked membranous margins to the inner bracts .