Romulea gracillima Baker

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 : 89

38. Romulea gracillima Baker

Handbk. Irideae : 103 (1892); M . P . de Vos, J . S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 133 (1972); Fl. S . Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 33 (1983). — Type: Drège s. n., South Africa, Western Cape, Drakenstein Mts. (holo-, K!; iso-, BM, G, OXF, P!) .

Plants 6-25 cm, stem subterranean or reaching 10 cm above ground; corm symmetrical, bellshaped with a circular rim of fibrils. Leaves 2-5, basal and usually cauline, narrowly 4-grooved, 0.5-1 mm diam.; outer bracts without visible membranous margins, inner bracts with wider colorless membranous margins. Flowers pale pink sometimes with red lines in the yellow cup, tepals elliptic, 12-18 mm long; filaments 3-5 mm long, anthers 2-4 mm long. Fruiting peduncles suberect. Flowering: Aug.-Sep.

Romulea gracillima occurs on sandstone slopes, from the Cape Peninsula to the Agulhas flats. It is readily recognized among the species of section Hirsutae by the small, pale pink flowers with tepals 12-18 mm long and 5-6 mm wide and lacking dark markings in the throat.