Romulea cedarbergensis 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 : 99

59. Romulea cedarbergensis M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 245 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 62 (1983). — Type: Uys sub de Vos 2030, South Africa, Western Cape, Cedarberg Mts. , Wolfsberg (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 3-15 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves (1)2 or 3, basal, filiform, narrowly 4- grooved, 0.5-1 mm diam.; outer bracts submembranous, often purplish with narrow colorless membranous margins, inner bracts submembranous with wide brown-speckled membranous margins. Flowers 1(-2), white to pale pink with a yellow cup, tepals elliptic, 7-16 mm long; filaments 4-6 mm long, anthers 2-3.5 mm long. Fruiting peduncles suberect. Flowering: July-Sep.

A slender, delicate species, Romulea cedarbergensis favours shallow, wet sandy soil on sandstone pavement, and is restricted to the Cedarberg of Western Cape Province. It has only two or three filiform leaves and small flowers with tepals 7-16 mm long. The leaves are the most reduced in the series in their anatomy, lacking secondary veins in the ribs and with only vestigial sclerenchyma strands along the rib margins.