Romulea saldanhensis 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 : 85

27. Romulea saldanhensis M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 108 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 28 (1983). — Type: de Vos 1772, South Africa, Western Cape, Saldanha Bay (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 20-60 cm high, stem subterranean or reaching 35 cm above ground; corm with a crescent-shaped basal ridge. Leaves 3-6, lower 1 basal, narrowly 4-grooved, sheathing below, 1-2 mm diam.; outer bracts with hardly visible membranous margins, inner bracts submembranous with wide colorless or brown-marked membranous margins. Flowers orange-yellow with dark lines in the cup, unscented, tepals oblanceolate, 20-30 mm long; filaments 5-7 mm long, anthers 5-7 mm long. Fruiting peduncles sharply curved, later erect. Flowering: Aug.-Sep. — Fig. 2B .

Romulea saldanhensis is a narrow endemic of the Western Cape coast between St. Helena Bay and Darling and occurs on seasonally wet granitic flats. It is allied to R. flava in its single basal leaf and submembranous inner bracts and is distinguished mainly by the consistently large flowers of a deep, golden yellow or orange color quite different from the lemon yellow of R. flava .

Figures

Fig. 2. — Flowers of Romulea species: A, R. tabularis; B, R. saldanhensis; C, R. tortuosa; D, R. sabulosa; E, R. eximia; F, R. sulphurea; G, R. namaquensis; H, R. komsbergensis.