Romulea fibrosa in the Swartberg

Romulea fibrosa is a cormous geophyte that grows a few narrow leaves and a slender flower stem to 40 cm. The base of the corm is shaped like a horseshoe with small rounded bulges.

Flowers are borne solitary at branch tips. The flowers are magenta or pink with obovate tepals, spreading in a funnel-shaped corolla to acutely pointed tips from a short, wide tube. The tepals have fine veins radiating from the base to their upper margins. Lower down, inside the cup, the colouring is yellow, the veins dark brown. The stamens are erect in the flower centre, the stigma divided, slightly below the anthers. Flowering starts in midspring and lasts until early summer.

The species distribution is on coastal and inland mountain slopes of the Western and Eastern Cape, particularly the Little Karoo. This flower was photographed in the Swartberg during September (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iSpot).