Romulea atrandra G.J. Lewis

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 : 101

63. Romulea atrandra G.J. Lewis

Fl. Pl. Africa 14: pl. 544 (1934); M . P . de Vos , J . S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 212 (1972); Fl. S . Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 53 (1983). — Type: Lewis s.n., South Africa, Western Cape, Laingsburg, Tweedside (holo-, Nat. Bot. Gard. 2703/ 32 in BOL!; iso-, PRE) .

Plants 10-40 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 4-10, basal, narrow or somewhat swollen, narrowly or widely 4-grooved, rarely minutely ciliate, 1-4 mm diam.; outer bracts with brown-streaked membranous margins and prominent membranous tip, inner bracts with wide brown-streaked membranous margins. Flowers magenta to pale pink or white with dark veins and dark blotches around the yellow cup which is often longitudinally veined, unscented, tepals obovate, 18-30 mm long; filaments 4-8 mm long, anthers 5-10 mm long. Fruiting peduncles recurved and later coiled. Flowering: July-Oct.

Widespread and variable in flower size and markings, Romulea atrandra extends from the Hantamsberg at Calvinia in Northern Cape Province through the Roggeveld Escarpment and Cold Bokkeveld in the west to Hogsback in Eastern Cape Province. Plants grow in stony clay soils, most often in dolerite or shale. Roggeveld populations of R. atrandra have particularly large and attractive, dark pink flowers with a darkly streaked cup. Plants from the southern Cape can be confused with R. rosea but this species has suberect fruiting peduncles.

Romulea atrandra appears to be the central species in series Atrandrae. This series is best developed on the Roggeveld Plateau, where it is represented by a cluster of closely related, narrowly endemic segregate species of R. atrandra . Differences between them are small, and mostly concern the color and markings of the flowers.