Romulea sabulosa
| Romulea sabulosa | |
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| Species: | R. sabulosa
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| Binomial name | |
| Romulea sabulosa Schltr. ex Bég.
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Romulea sabulosa is a perennial geophyte that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has a few grooved thread-like leaves, and relatively large burgundy red trimerous flowers, reminiscent of crocus flowers, with yellow to light greenish with black markings and stamens with light green free filaments. It only occurs on sandy clay on renosterveld west of Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape province South Africa. It is called satynblom in Afrikaans.[1]
Description
Romulea sabulosa is a low to medium hight perennial geophyte of 12–40 cm (4.7–15.7 in) high, that has a subterranean stem, that developes from a corm with a rounded base that is wrapped in a brown tunic with curved pointed teeth. The three to five thread-like leaves emerge directly from the soil, are about 1 mm (0.039 in) in diameter and have four grooves along their lengths. Each flower is subtended by two bracts that have a transparent, often brownish margin. The outer bract mostly has one keel on its upper surface and the transparent margin is narrow, while the inner bract has two keels and the papery margin is wider. The scentless, trimerous flower itself is dark red, sometimes pink, and has black blotches in a creamy green cup. The tepals that are fused in a tube at their base are inverted egg-shaped with a slightly indented tip 2½–4 cm (1–1.6 in) long. The outer tepals have a light yellow feathered stripes. The stamens consist of 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long free filaments topped by anthers of 8–12 mm (0.31–0.47 in) long. The stalk supporting the ripe fruit remains more or less erect. Romulea sabulosa flowers can be found from July till September.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
R. sabulosa has slender, tapering, mostly pale green filaments, while R. monadelpha as short, oblong, black filaments that are pressed together or fused. The flower stalk of R. sabulosa is slender, more or less circular in cross section and does not curve when the fruit is ripe, but in R. monadelpha the flower stem is stout and has one flattened side while it spreads out when the fruit is ripe. The species occur in the same area near Nieuwoudtville, but have a different habitat: R. sabulosa occurs only on a light sandy clay known as tillite, while R. monadelpha grows on heavy dolerite clay.[2][3]
Taxonomy
´Romulea sabulosa´ was described by the German botanist Rudolf Schlechter in 1907.[1]
Distribution and habitat
Romulea sabulosa is limited to the Bokkeveld plateau along the escarpment west of Nieuwoudtville where it grows in large swarms on a light sandy clay called tillite.[2]
References
- ^ a b "Compilation Romulea sabulosa". JSTOR.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
MGwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Hantham Vitual Tour". SANBI.