Romulea

Romulea is a genus of cormous perennials in the Iridaceae family. The geophytes grow annual above-ground leaves and flowers from the bell-shaped or asymmetrical corms. The perennial corms grow in fibrous, cartilaginous, woody or papery coats. There is often a ridge at the corm base where the roots emerge. The short stem may be subterranean or visible above-ground.

The leaves are thread-like, grooved longitudinally or midribbed. The number of leaves varies across species, the lowest ones only cataphylls.

The flowers grow solitary at branch tips, usually near the ground. The flower is subtended by two green bracts, in some plants these are marked brown and often with transparent margins, particularly the inner one. Romulea bracts and corms feature much in species identification, besides the usual features like leaves and flowers.

The corolla base is usually white or yellow in the centre, often lighter coloured than the rest of the tepals outside the cup. The tepals are joined at the base, their free tips usually spreading. Romulea corollas are variously coloured in the many species. 

The three stamens, arising from the bases of the outer tepals are erect in the flower centre. The style branches below the level of the anthers. The ovary is inferior and three-locular.

The genus comprises about 85 species. They grow in Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe, but mainly in southern Africa where 54 species occur in the fynbos and 13 in the Little Karoo.

Francolins or spurfowls are skilled at finding the corms, scratching them from the ground to eat. Children may still eat the young, juicy or mealy fruits called froetangs, also a common name for the plants, from the Portuguese fruta.

The plant in picture seen in Kirstenbosch, not planted, resembles Romulea rosea and R. tabularis to some extent, but could not be identified (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist; iSpot).