Romulea obscura Klatt

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 : 100

60. Romulea obscura Klatt

Abh. Naturf. Ges. Halle 15: 399 (1882); M . P . de Vos , J . S . African Bot., Suppl. 9: 231 (1972); Fl. S . Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 59 (1983). — Type: Drège 4041, South Africa, Western Cape (lecto-, S, designated by M. P. DE VOS, 1972; isolecto-, BM) .

Plants 10-20 high, stem subterranean; corm rounded at base with curved acuminate teeth. Leaves 3-6, basal or some cauline, narrowly 4- grooved, 0.5-1 mm diam.; outer bracts with very narrow membranous margins, inner bracts with wide colorless or brownish margins. Flowers yellow or apricot to red, often with dark blotches around the greenish to yellow cup, unscented, tepals elliptic to oblanceolate, 10-40 mm long; filaments 3-8 mm long, anthers 3-9 mm long. Fruiting peduncles widely spreading from the base. Flowering: Aug.-Oct.

Romulea obscura occurs on sandy flats in Western Cape Province, extending from Clanwilliam in the north to Cape Agulhas in the south. It is very closely related to Romulea rosea and is distinguished by the fruiting peduncles that diverge sharply and spread horizontally and by the presence of yellow pigmentation in the flowers. The yellow- or apricot-flowered forms are easily distinguished from the typical purplemagenta of R. rosea but in the absence of fruiting material it is difficult, if not impossible to tell some color variants of the two apart. The two species differ in chromosome numbers, R. rosea having 2 n = 18 while R. obscura has 2 n = 22.