Romulea sphaerocarpa 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 : 89

37. Romulea sphaerocarpa M.P. de Vos

J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 161 (1972); Fl. S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 46 (1983). — Type: de Vos 2102, South Africa, Western Cape, Sandvlei, 23 km from Matroosberg Station to Koo (holo-, NBG!) .

Plants 15-30 cm high, stem subterranean; corm obliquely flattened with a fan-shaped basal ridge. Leaf 1(2), basal, sticky, narrowly 4-grooved, 1-2 mm diam.; outer bracts with narrow membranous margins, sticky, inner bracts submembranous with wide mostly colorless membranous margins. Flowers usually solitary, yellow with brown streaks in the orange cup, unscented, tepals elliptic, 15-25 mm long; filaments 5-7 mm long, anthers 6-8 mm long. Fruiting peduncles curved. Flowering: June.

Romulea sphaerocarpa is an early-flowering species found scattered in sandy pockets on sandstone slopes. Originally known from near the Hex River Pass more recent collections have extended its range somewhat although it remains a relatively local endemic of the highlands south of the Tanqua Basin from the Katbakkies Pass in the north to the Waboomsberg in the south. Resembling Romulea tortuosa in its strongly flattened, fan-shaped corm, R. sphaerocarpa is distinguished by the solitary, sticky leaf usually covered by grains of sand and the less pronounced compression of the corm. Plants each produce a single flower.

ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — SOUTH AFRICA. Western Cape:3219 (Wuppertal), Cold Bokkeveld, Katbakkies Pass ( DC) , Manning 2253, 6 June 2000 ( NBG) ; 3220 (Montagu) Waboomsberg, Manning 2172, Rooihoogte Pass, farm Sandvlei ( CA) , 13 June 1998 ( NBG) ; Manning 2173, Waboomsberg, summit of Ouberg Pass , 13 June 1998 ( NBG) .

ROMULEA subg. ROMULEA sect. 3. HIRSUTAE (Bég.) J.C. Manning & Goldblatt, comb. et stat. nov.

Subsect. Hirsutae (Bég.) M. P. de Vos, J. S. African Bot., Suppl. 9: 120 (1972). — “Stirps ” Hirsutae Bég., Ann. Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève 11-12: 159 (1908). — Type: Rinorea hirsuta (Steud. ex Klatt) Baker .

Corm symmetrical with a circular basal ridge; ridge edges fringed, consisting of fine parallel fibrils. Leaves usually without secondary bundles.