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2.2.16 Romulea tabularis<br />

Literature review<br />

Flowers are lavender blue to white or bluish-mauve. The flower has a yellow cup and<br />

the lower half <strong>of</strong> the tepals are yellow (DE VOS, 1983; MANNING & GOLDBLATT,<br />

2001). They are sometimes fragrant with tepals that are elliptic (MANNING &<br />

GOLDBLATT, 2001). The fruiting peduncles are arching and later erect. Outer bracts<br />

have inconspicuous membranous margins. The inner bract is submembranous with<br />

wide brown-speckled membranous margins (MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 2001).<br />

These plants flower from July to August with 2 to 4 flowers (DE VOS, 1972;<br />

MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 2001). Plants are 100 to 350 mm in height with a stem<br />

that reaches 100 to 350 mm above ground. They have 3 to 5 leaves <strong>of</strong> which 1 or 2<br />

are basal (DE VOS, 1983; MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 2001).<br />

R. tabularis occurs from northern Namaqualand to Cape Agulhas. Here it grows in<br />

wet, <strong>of</strong>ten waterlogged, sandy soils or limestone flats from Clanwilliam to Bredasdorp<br />

(DE VOS, 1983; MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 1996; MANNING & GOLDBLATT,<br />

2001). Very closely allied with R. leipoldtii, R. tabularis however has smaller flowers<br />

and bicoloured tepals (MANNING & GOLDBLATT, 2001). MANNING & GOLDBLATT<br />

(2001) places this species in the subgenus Romulea.<br />

2.3 PHYLOGENY AND TAXONOMY<br />

The Iridaceae is a large family <strong>of</strong> petaloid monocotyledons. It includes over 1 630<br />

species in about 77 genera (GOLDBLATT, 1990). Within the Iridaceae there are the<br />

subfamilies <strong>of</strong> Isophysidoideae, Nivenoideae, Iridoideae and Ixioideae. Romulea<br />

belongs to the subfamily Ixioideae (GOLDBLATT, 1990). Ixioideae in turn contains<br />

the tribes Pilansiae, Watsonieae and Ixieae. Romulea is a member <strong>of</strong> Ixieae<br />

(GOLDBLATT, 1990). Ixioideae is centered in Southern Africa, but some species<br />

such as Gladiolus, Crocus and Romulea also occur in Eurasia. The subfamily<br />

comprises <strong>of</strong> over 860 species <strong>of</strong> which 760 belong to the tribe Ixieae (GOLDBLATT,<br />

1990).<br />

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