Romulea pudica open flower

The fully open Romulea pudica flower has its tepal lobes curving out. The deeply rose-pink lobes are here bluntly pointed, four or five dark, about parallel lines are visible up the curved surfaces. The basal black and pale-yellow pattern of concentric star-shapes is standard to these flowers, a bit like a police badge.

The long thin anthers, orange-yellow in colour, cohere erectly in the centre. The flower’s style, part of the female floral equipment right in the centre surrounded by the male stamens, divides into its branches slightly lower than the top of the anthers (Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; iNaturalist; www.pacificbulbsociety.org).