Description
An amazing species from South Africa with scentless, intensely coloured, claret to burgundy flowers with each oval petal bearing a black (or navy blue) basal blotch, outlined with a thin band of gold. The filaments (which carry the anthers) are fused into a short, stout, shiny-black column unlike the superficially similar R. sabulosa which has separate, slender, tapering, pale green filaments.
This grows from a small, rounded corm with a toothed tunic. The plants reach from 10-20cm tall (usually at the lower end of this range) with narrow, channelled foliage; each of the 3-5 leaves is just a couple of mm across.
Romulea monadelpha grows in damp clay soils derived from dolerites in the area of the Bokkeveld Plateau and the Roggeveld escarpment. The species was first described by Robert Sweet in 1830 and transferred to Romulea in 1892.
We keep it in a pot, under alpine glass and it makes an impressive display, very early in the year from March onwards until temperatures rise too much and it becomes dormant. Our compost is a fertile, loam-based mix with some gravel, but it isn’t a fussy plant.
