Romulea macowanii 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 : 87

34. Romulea macowanii Baker

J. Bot. 5: 236 (1876) ; M. P. de Vos , J. S. African Bot. , Suppl. 9: 165 (1972); Fl . S. Africa 7(2), fasc. 2: 48 (1983). — Type: MacOwan 1547, South Africa, Eastern Cape, Somerset East , Boschberg (lecto-, K!, designated by M. P. DE VOS, 1972; isolecto-, BM, BOL!, G, GRA, P, PRE!) .

Plants 20-40 cm, stem subterranean; corm with a crescent-shaped basal ridge. Leaves 3-6, basal, filiform, narrowly 4-grooved, 0.6-1 mm diam.; outer bracts submembranous below, inner bracts submembranous with greenish apices. Flowers tubular below, golden-yellow with the cup and often the lower half of the tepals orange, perianth tube 14-65 mm long, tepals elliptic, (10-) 15-45 mm; filaments 5-10 mm, anthers 5-12 mm. Fruiting peduncles recurved. Flowering: mainly Jan.-May.

A species of montane grassland and stony plateaus, Romulea macowanii extends from Somerset East in the west to the high Drakensberg in eastern Lesotho. It is one of only three yellow-flowered species of Romulea that occur in the southern African summer-rainfall zone and is distinguished among all yellow-flowered species in the genus by its long, funnelshaped perianth tube, 14-65 mm long.