Published In:
Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 14: 236. 1876. ( J. Bot.)  
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(Last Modified On 11/23/2016)
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Acceptance
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Accepted
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(Last Modified On 12/7/2016)
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Description
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Plants 50–100(–200) mm high. Corm ovoid, 8–20 mm diam., obliquely pointed with small basal ridge, tunics woody or cartilaginous, split into fine teeth below, often extending upward in a fibrous neck. Stem short, subterranean. Leaves (1)2 to 4(6), all basal, subterete, narrowly 4-grooved, 1–2 mm diam. Peduncles up to 4, subterete, erect in fruit; outer bracts green or greenish with narrow, colourless membranous margins, 10–20 mm long, closely ribbed (± 8 veins/mm) or rarely softer basally, inner bracts similar or with wider colourles margins basally. Flowers purple to violet or white, rarely red locally in southwestern Tanzania with yellow or greenish cup, outer tepals pink or green with or without purple feathering on reverse; perianth tube funnel-shaped, 4–8 mm long; tepals oblanceolate to elliptic, (9–)12–20(–35) × 4–8 mm. Filaments inserted in lower half of tube, shortly exserted from cup, 4–10 mm long, puberulous or pilose basally; anthers 3–7 mm long, yellow or with puplish lines. Style dividing below or up to 4 mm beyond anther apices, branches 1–2 mm long, shortly divided. Capsules ovoid-oblong, 7–10 mm long. Flowering time: Oct.–Feb.
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Country
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South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Congo (DR), Cameroon, Malawi, Ethiopia, South Sudan
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South African Province
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Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga
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Distribution and ecology
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widespread, extending along eastern Escarpment in southern and tropical Africa, in the Drakensberg from Naude’s Nek in Eastern Cape through eastern Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho to southern Mpumalanga and Swaziland, and thence from the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe to southern Sudan, in montane grasslands and on stony plateaus, from ± 1 500–3 000 m.
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Diagnosis
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allied to Romulea autumnalis from lower altitudes in the Eastern Cape and sharing with it a corm with a small, narrowly toothed basal ridge but distinguished by the mostly smaller flowers with closely ribbed bracts and longer stamens and style, typically more than half as long as the perianth and thus exserted from the floral cup. Flowers are purple to violet or white, rarely red in southwestern Tanzania, always with a yellow cup.
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Specimens whose coordinates are enclosed in square brackets [ ] have been mapped to a standard reference mark based on political
units.
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Africa & Madagascar
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Tanzania
Iringa, Mufindi:
Ibatu,
1845 m,
08°31'00"S 035°10'00"E,
9 March 1989,
C.J. Kayombo & M.J. Kayombo 204
(MO)
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Tanzania
Dodoma, Mpwapwa:
1950 m,
07°09'00"S 036°24'00"E,
10 April 1988,
J.C. Lovett & T.C.E. Congdon 3207
(MO)
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Malawi
Southern:
3 April 1991,
Peter Goldblatt 9094
(MO)
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Malawi
Southern:
2000 m,
10 April 1991,
Peter Goldblatt 9101
(MO)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Ludewa:
2320 m,
09°51'00"S 034°27'00"E,
12 February 1991,
Roy E. Gereau & C.J. Kayombo 3978
(MO)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Makete:
Kitulo (Elton) Plateau,
2700 m,
09°02'00"S 033°57'00"E,
13 January 1989,
Roy E. Gereau, J.C. Lovett & et al. 2828
(MO)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Makete:
Kitulo (Elton) Plateau,
2700 m,
09°02'00"S 033°57'00"E,
13 January 1989,
Roy E. Gereau, J.C. Lovett & et al. 2828
(WAG)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Makete:
2740 m,
09°02'00"S 033°55'00"E,
23 February 2009,
Y.S. Abeid & R. Salter 3066
(NHT)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Makete:
2740 m,
09°02'00"S 033°55'00"E,
23 February 2009,
Y.S. Abeid & R. Salter 3066
(TFD)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Makete:
2740 m,
09°02'00"S 033°55'00"E,
23 February 2009,
Y.S. Abeid & R. Salter 3066
(MO)
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Tanzania
Iringa, Makete:
2740 m,
09°02'00"S 033°55'00"E,
23 February 2009,
Y.S. Abeid & R. Salter 3066
(SHCP)
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