''Romulea tortuosa'' is a herbaceous perennial

geophyte A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or water. Storage organs often grow underground, where they are better protected from attack by herbivores. Plants that have ...

in the family

Iridaceae Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It include ...

native to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It has a small corm in the soil, a few prostrate coiling leaves, and fragrant,

trimerous Merosity (from the greek "méros," which means "having parts") refers to the number of component parts in a distinct whorl of a plant structure. The term is most commonly used in the context of a flower where it refers to the number of sepals in a ...

yellow flowers, sometimes with six brown blotches on the inside near the bottom of the flower.

Description

''Romulea tortuosa'' is a very low

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

of high, that survives the dry southern summer through storage of its

resources Resource refers to all the materials available in our environment which are technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and wants. Resources can broadly be classified upon their a ...

in an oval

corm A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ' ...

, which is clad in a brown, rigid tunic. Its three to four spreading, firm, awl-shaped basal leaves are coiled like corkscrews, 3¾–5 cm (1½–2 in) long, about 1 mm (0.04 in) in diameter, with three veins. Two or three flowers appear almost without a stem from the base of the leaves. Each flower is subtended by two green lanceolate non-coiling bracts of 1¼ cm (½ in) long. The bright yellow

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

, that consists of six

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, which are merged near their base, forms a short tube at its base, and a cup of 1¼ cm (½ in) high, with egg-shaped lobes. The

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

are in the upper half of the cup and narrowly arrow-shaped. The typical subspecies (''R. tortuosa'' subsp. ''tortuosa'') has brown blotches near the bottom of the flower cup, which are absent in ''R. tortuosa'' subsp. ''aurea''. The opened flower smells like the ''

Narcissus Narcissus may refer to: Biology * ''Narcissus'' (plant), a genus containing daffodils and others People * Narcissus (mythology), Greek mythological character * Narcissus (wrestler) (2nd century), assassin of the Roman emperor Commodus * Tiberiu ...

'' blossom.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by

Hinrich Lichtenstein Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein (10 January 1780 – 2 September 1857) was a German physician, explorer, botanist and zoologist. Biography Born in Hamburg, Lichtenstein was the son of Anton August Heinrich Lichtenstein. He studied medicine ...

in 1817 as ''Ixia tortuosa''. In 1827,

John Bellenden Ker Gawler John Bellenden Ker, originally John Gawler, was an English botanist born about 1764 in Ramridge, Andover, Hampshire and died in June 1842 in the same town. On 5 November 1804 he changed his name to Ker Bellenden, but continued to sign his name a ...

thought it better placed in ''Trichonema'', while

John Gilbert Baker John Gilbert Baker (13 January 1834 – 16 August 1920) was an English botanist. His son was the botanist Edmund Gilbert Baker (1864–1949). Biography Baker was born in Guisborough in North Yorkshire, the son of John and Mary (née Gilber ...

created the

new combination ''Combinatio nova'', abbreviated ''comb. nov.'' (sometimes ''n. comb.''), is Latin for "new combination". It is used in taxonomic biology literature when a new name is introduced based on a pre-existing name. The term should not to be confused wi ...

''Romulea tortuosa'' in 1877, which was not supported by

Otto Kuntze Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866 he ...

, who moved it to the genus ''Bulbocodium'' in 1891.

Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt Friedrich Wilhelm Klatt (13 February 1825 Hamburg – 3 March 1897 Hamburg) was a German botanist who specialised in the study of African plants. As a child he showed artistic talent, but for financial reasons, training and a career in art cou ...

described another specimen in 1882, calling it ''Romulea tridentifera'', but this name is now considered to be

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

to ''R. tortuosa''. Klatt also described ''Romulea aurea'', that was later reduced to ''R. tortuosa'' subsp. ''aurea'' by M.P. de Vos in 1972.

Ecology

''Romulea tortuosa'' is mostly visited by common

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current co ...

s and other bee species such as from the sweat bee family, but sometimes also by the

monkey beetle Monkey beetles are scarab beetles, a group of several genera within the tribe Hopliini. The placement of this tribe within the family Scarabaeidae is uncertain between Melolonthinae and Rutelinae. Many species visit flowers for pollen and nectar, ...

''Lepithrix forsteri''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15580653 Endemic flora of South Africa tortuosa Plants described in 1817 Taxa named by Hinrich Lichtenstein Taxa named by Johann Jacob Roemer Taxa named by Josef August Schultes Taxa named by John Gilbert Baker