Romulea obscura Klatt

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

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5180119

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5190434

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03A7676A-FFDB-1E1A-839B-FE6D01418EF0

treatment provided by

Carolina

scientific name

Romulea obscura Klatt
status

 

60. Romulea obscura Klatt View in CoL

Abh. Naturf. Ges. Halle 15: 399 (1882); M . P . de Vos , J . S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 231 (1972); Fl. S . Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 59 (1983). — Type: Drège 4041, South Africa, Western Cape (lecto-, S, designated by M. P. DE VOS, 1972; isolecto-, BM) .

Plants 10-20 high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 3-6, basal or some cauline, narrowly 4- grooved, 0.5-1 mm diam.; outer bracts with very narrow membranous margins, inner bracts with wide colorless or brownish margins. Flowers yellow or apricot to red, often with dark blotches around the greenish to yellow cup, unscented, tepals elliptic to oblanceolate, 10-40 mm long; filaments 3-8 mm long, anthers 3-9 mm long. Fruiting peduncles widely spreading from the base. Flowering: Aug.-Oct.

Romulea obscura occurs on sandy flats in Western Cape Province, extending from Clanwilliam in the north to Cape Agulhas in the south. It is very closely related to Romulea rosea and is distinguished by the fruiting peduncles that diverge sharply and spread horizontally and by the presence of yellow pigmentation in the flowers. The yellow- or apricot-flowered forms are easily distinguished from the typical purplemagenta of R. rosea but in the absence of fruiting material it is difficult, if not impossible to tell some color variants of the two apart. The two species differ in chromosome numbers, R. rosea having 2 n = 18 while R. obscura has 2 n = 22.

M

Botanische Staatssammlung München

P

Museum National d' Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN) - Vascular Plants

J

University of the Witwatersrand

S

Department of Botany, Swedish Museum of Natural History

BM

Bristol Museum

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Liliopsida

Order

Asparagales

Family

Iridaceae

Genus

Romulea

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