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Introduction
where a great number of species of Romulea can be seen. Within the summer-
rainfall zone of southern Africa, the species is restricted to upland and montane
habitats (MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 2001). Species belonging to Romulea are
deciduous perennial geophytes and the tunicated corms of these plants enable them
to survive the dry season (DE VOS, 1972; MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 2001). At the
start of the growing season, a group of adventitious roots are first formed near the
base of the corm, after which the uppermost axillary bud develops into an
inflorescence stem (DE VOS, 1972).
According to HILTON-TAYLOR (1996) there are 18 rare, 10 vulnerable and 2
extinct species in the genus Romulea. RAIMONDO et al (2009) however lists this
genus as having only 4 rare, 4 near threatened, 23 vulnerable, 7 endangered and 3
critically endangered species. In their book, RAIMONDO et al (2009) displays a
photograph of the vulnerable Romulea sabulosa on the cover. This species was used
in this study. Despite the fragile conservation status of many species in this genus,
the area which hosts its centre of diversity is also under threat from climate change.
The longer periods and higher intensity of drought in the Cape Floral Region is likely
to have a large negative impact on the endemic flora (WEST, 2009).
This study will form the groundwork for the commercialisation and conservation of
this genus, as there has been no extensive work done on its ecophysiology and
propagation.
Micropropagation is an important tool for ornamental plant culture and breeding,
which has been applied to almost all commercial geophytes (ZIV, 1997). It enables
high propagation rates, which is especially useful for the commercialisation of new
species (LILIEN-KIPNIS & KOCHBA, 1987; PIERIK, 1997). In many instances it has
also been shown that micropropagation can play a vital role in plant conservation,
especially when combined with methods such as cryopreservation (WOCHOCK,
1981; SARASAN et al., 2006; SHIBLI et al., 2006; WITHERS, 2008).
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