Romulea neglecta (Schult.) 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 : 81-82

17. Romulea neglecta (Schult.) M.P. de Vos

Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 29 (1983). — Ixia neglecta

Schult., Syst. Veg. Mant. 1: 279 (1822). — Type:

Illustration in Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 36: pl. 1476 (1812).

Romulea oliveri M.P. de Vos, J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 116 (1972). — Type: Oliver 3169, South Africa, Northern Cape, Kamiesberg, Farm Welkom (holo-, NBG!; iso-, PRE!).

Plants 15-30 cm high, stem reaching 3-30 cm above ground; corm with a crescent-shaped basal ridge. Leaves 2-4, the lower 1 basal, filiform, narrowly 4-grooved; outer bracts firm and closely veined with brown-flecked, membranous margins and apex, inner bracts with broad, brownstreaked membranous margins. Flowers rosy magenta, the cup striped purple and yellow, tepals elliptic, 25-35 mm long; filaments c. 4 mm long, anthers 8-10 mm long. Fruiting peduncles suberect. Flowering: Aug.-Sep.

Romulea neglecta occurs on stony, granitic slopes in the Kamiesberg in central Namaqualand. It is one of a small group of three closely related Namaqualand species characterised by their prominently and closely veined inner bracts. The three species in the group are easily distinguished by flower color, Romulea neglecta with magenta flowers, R. pearsonii with yellow flowers and R. maculata with white flowers. In her monograph of Romulea, DE VOS (1972) treated this plant as Romulea oliveri . Only later did she realize that Ixia neglecta described in 1822 and typified by an illustration in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine published in 1812 was an earlier name for the species ( DE VOS 1983). Romulea neglecta remains poorly collected and is known only from the type illustration and the single collection which constitutes the type of R. oliveri .

18. Romulea maculata J.C. Manning & Goldblatt , sp. nov.

Plantae 15-30 cm altae, cormo globoso, foliis 4 [ut videtur] omnibus basalibus, filiformibus in sectione transversali ovalibus 4-sulcatis, inflorescentiae bracteis exterioribus viridibus marginibus et apice membranaceis, interioribus marginibus late membranaceis, floribus albis cupula flava , tubo perianthii infundibuliformi, 7-8 mm longo, tepalis ellipticis 27-30 × 10-13 mm, filamentis c. 6 mm longis, antheris contiguis c. 11 mm longis flavis.

TYPUS. — IPC-NGS Expedition 7, South Africa, Western Cape, northern Knersvlakte, Flaminkberg (also known as Rooiberg), north-facing upper slope in rocky loam on quartzite, 18 Aug. 1999 (holo-, NBG).

Plants 15-30 cm high, the stem reaching 2-3 cm above the ground, the base sheathed by purple cataphylls lightly speckled with white above the ground. Corm globose, with a crescentshaped basal ridge split into fine parallel fibrils, the tunics drawn into prominent fibers above, 10-15 mm diam. Leaves 4, all evidently basal, 1-1.5 mm diam., oval in section and narrowly 4-grooved. Inflorescence of 2 or 3 solitary flowers; outer bracts green with broad, brownstreaked membranous margins widening upward to a membranous tip, 21-23 mm long, inner bracts with a green centre and broad membranous margins streaked with dark brown, 22-23 mm long. Flowers cup-shaped, white with a pale yellow cup, the outer tepals streaked with dark purple on the reverse, perianth tube funnel-shaped, 7-8 mm long, tepals elliptic, 27-30 × 10-13 mm. Fila- ments inserted in the middle of the tube, free, c. 6 mm long, smooth above, minutely scabrid below; anthers parallel and contiguous, c. 11 mm long. Style dividing opposite the upper third of the anthers, the branches c. 1.3 mm long, divided for half their length. Capsules and seeds unknown. Flowering: Aug.

Romulea maculata is currently known from one collection from the summit of the Flaminkberg (also known as the Rooiberg) just southeast of Nuwerus in the Knersvlakte of Western Cape Province. It is most closely related to the Namaqualand species, Romulea neglecta and R. pearsonii , and all three have distinctive outer bracts with membranous, brown-flecked margins and apices, and inner bracts with very broad membranous margins. In Romulea maculata , as in R. neglecta , the central vein of the outer bract is enlarged and more prominent than the other veins. It is easily distinguished from these species by the spotted cataphylls and white flowers.