Romulea congoensis Bég.

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 : 75

4. Romulea congoensis Bég.

Bull. Jard. Bot. Bruxelles 15: 215 (1938); Goldblatt, Fl. Trop. E. Africa, Iridaceae : 37 (1996); Fl. Ethiopia 6: 173 (1998). — Type: Lebrun 4982, Congo, Karisimbi, Rukuki Plateau (holo-, BR!). Romulea keniensis Hedberg, Symb. Bot. Upsal. 15: 66

(1957). — Type: Hedberg 1784, Kenya , Mt. Kenya,

Teleki valley (holo-, UPS!; iso-, K!).

Plants (2-) 5-15 cm high, stem subterranean; corm obliquely pointed with a narrow basal ridge. Leaves 3-7, basal, filiform, narrowly 4- grooved, 1-2 mm diam.; outer bracts with broad membranous margins, inner bracts with broad, rust-brown membranous margins or almost entirely membranous. Flowers pink or lilac to white with a yellow to white cup, tepals elliptic, 15-20 mm long; filaments 4-6 mm long, anthers 4-6 mm long. Fruiting peduncles erect or curved. Flowering: July-Oct. and Jan.-Mar., only the latter in south tropical Africa.

A species of alpine grasslands, seeps and scree, Romulea congoensis occurs in the higher eastern African mountains from eastern Zaire in the west to Ethiopia in the east. It is distinctive in the rustcolored outer and inner bracts, the latter often almost entirely membranous and dry.

— Ser. ROMULEA

The group is entirely extra sub-Saharan African and is not dealt with here.

— Ser. PRATENSES