Romulea malaniae 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 : 104

69. Romulea malaniae M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 223 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 58 (1983). — Type: Malan s. n., South Africa, Western Cape, Sandvlei , 23 km S of Matroosberg Station (holo-, NBG 30312!) .

Plants 12-25 cm high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 1-3(-5), basal, narrowly 4-grooved; outer bracts submembranous or green in the centre in the upper half with pale membranous margins, inner bracts with wide membranous margins. Flowers on geniculate peduncles, pale yellow, unscented, tepals oblanceolate, 8-20 mm long; filaments 4-5 mm long, anthers 3-4 mm long. Fruiting peduncles sharply recurved and later coiled. Flowering: Aug.

A rather odd-looking and unattractive plant, Romulea malaniae has pale yellow flowers with a characteristic kink at the top of the peduncle. The species is also distinctive in the submembranous inner bracts with very broad membranous margins. It occurs on sandstone outcrops in the Waboomsberg between Matroosberg Station and Koo in Western Cape Province.

— Ser. SPATALANTHUS