Romulea monticola 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 : 100

61. Romulea monticola M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 241 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 60 (1983). — Type: de Vos 1924, South Africa, Western Cape, top of Vanrhyn’s Pass (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 10-25 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 3-6, basal, narrowly 4-grooved, c. 1 mm diam.; outer bracts submembranous, often purplish with narrow brownish membranous margins, inner bracts with wide brown membranous margins. Flowers yellow with darker veins in the throat, unscented, tepals elliptic, 18-27 mm long; filaments 4-5 mm long, anthers 3-5 mm long. Fruiting peduncles suberect or curved. Flowering: June-Sep.

Romulea monticola grows in sandy loam in fynbos on the Bokkeveld Mts. and Gifberg. It resembles yellow-flowered forms of R. obscura but is distinguished by the fruiting pedicels which remain erect or are only slightly curved. In addition the stamens in R. monticola are relatively shorter than in R. obscura and are included in the floral cup. It is also somewhat similar to narrowleaved forms of R. luteoflora , but in this species the green central portion of the bracts is much more distinct and the fruiting peduncles coil characteristically.