Romulea diversiformis 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 : 103

68. Romulea diversiformis M.P. de Vos

Ann. Univ. Stellenbosch 28 A , 3: 63 (1952); J. S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 225 (1972) ; Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 58 (1983). — Type: de Vos 1581, South Africa, Northern Cape, Sutherland, Damslaagte (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 8-20 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 6-10, basal, narrowly 4-grooved; outer bracts with wide white membranous margins and apices, inner bracts with wide membranous margins. Flowers yellow, unscented, tepals obovate, dimorphic, the outer broader, 18-28 mm long; filaments 4.5-6 mm long, anthers 5-7.5 mm long. Fruiting peduncles bent. Flowering: Aug.- Sep.

Recognized in series Atrandrae by its unmarked golden-yellow flowers with the inner tepals distinctly broader than the outer, Romulea diversiformis grows in moist or waterlogged dolerite and clay in the western karoo of South Africa. Unlike other members of the series, the peduncles do not coil in fruit. The species is one of few in the genus in which the style exceeds the stamens by several millimetres. Although previously recorded only on the Roggeveld and near Matjiesfontein, R. diversiformis has now been found on the Hantamsberg at Calvinia, a considerable distance to the north.

ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape: 3119 (Calvinia) Hantamsberg Plateau , in shallow pool ( BD), 11 Oct. 1995 , Goldblatt & Manning 10354 ( MO, NBG) .