Romulea hallii 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 : 102-103

66. Romulea hallii M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 217 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 56 (1983). — Type: Hall 3176, South Africa, Western Cape, Sutherland, top of Verlate Kloof (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 8-13 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 3-5, spreading, somewhat swollen, widely 4-grooved, 2-3 mm diam.; outer bracts with a triangular green lower half and wide brown-speckled membranous margins and apices, inner bracts with wide brown-speckled membranous margins. Flowers pale lilac-blue with violet and black blotches around the yellow cup, unscented, tepals obovate-cuneate, 15-22 mm long; filaments 5- 6 mm long, anthers 4-5 mm long. Fruiting peduncles strongly recurved or later flexuose. Flowering: May-July.

Romulea hallii is known from a small area at the top of Verlate Kloof Pass at the southwestern edge of the Roggeveld Escarpment in Western Cape Province, South Africa. It grows on seasonally moist clay flats and is among the earliest species of the southern African winter-rainfall zone to come into flower. The species is readily recognized by the lilac or wistaria blue flowers with a yellow cup and the relatively wide membranous margins of the bracts.

67. Romulea luteoflora (M.P. de Vos) M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 210 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 55 (1983). — Romulea atrandra var. luteoflora M.P. de Vos, Fl. Pl. Africa 29: pl. 1135 (1952). — Type: de Vos 1570, South Africa, Western Cape, Ceres, top of Theronsberg Pass (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 8-15 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 2-8, basal, narrowly or widely 4-grooved, 1-2 mm diam.; outer bracts with narrow, usually brown-streaked membranous margins and prominent membranous tip, inner bracts with wide colorless or brown-speckled membranous margins. Flowers yellow with darker yellow cup, sometimes with dark lines or blotches around the cup, unscented, tepals obovate, 18-35 mm long; filaments 4-7 mm long, anthers (4-) 6-9 mm long. Fruiting peduncles recurved and later coiled. Flowering: July-Sep.

Romulea luteoflora occurs on loamy sands in the Kamiesberg in Namaqualand in Northern Cape Province, the Western Cape mountains from the Cedarberg and western Karoo to the Langeberg at Riversdale, and in the high Drakensberg of Lesotho. Plants from the Riversdale and Bredasdorp area are unusually slender, with more erect, filiform leaves than are typical of the species. Although closely related to Romulea atrandra , R. luteoflora differs from that species in its yellow flowers and chromosome number of 2 n = 20. Romulea atrandra has magenta flowers and 2 n = 22. Hybrids between the two species with white or pale lilac flowers are known from the Roggeveld Escarpment. Romulea luteoflora can also be confused with R. monticola but in that species the central green portion of the bracts is less pronounced, the fruiting peduncles do not coil up, and the leaves lack secondary veins associated with the sclerenchyma strands along the margins of the grooves.