Romulea species

[David Nicholson]

Just picking up on Oron's comments in the Ornithogalum thread and I quote:

"..... another genus which doesn't receive enough attention is Romulea, a stunning group of plants....."   Oron promises some pictures in early Spring. I thoroughly agree with Oron's assertion

Romulea is a genus which has rapidly become another of my 'obsessions' It started with the purchase of a few seeds of R. zahnii from one of the AGS Shows which eventually became my first (and so far only) bulbous plant grown from seed to flower. In 2007 I bought R. tempskyana and later Michael Campbell was generous enough to send me R. linaresia, R. citrina and R. multisurcata as well as a number of corms of which he was unsure of the species. All of these are currently growing away.

Since then I have added corms of R. atandra, crocea, leipoldtii, saldanhensis and tortuosa and have sown seed of atandra, columnae, ramiflora, camerooniana, diversiformii, eximia, flava, hirta, macowanii, nivalis, obscura subtestacea, pratensis, requienii and subulosa.

I certainly look forward to Oron's pictures.

[Maggi Young]

David, has anyone ever told you that you suffer from an addictive personality?      Must be why you're in such good company here in the Forum 
I do agree that Romuleas are another unfairly neglected genus. It seems you are making a tidy collection there... and all started by an odd packet of seed from an AGS show....I presume that would be surplus seed, after the exchange, which, like in the SRGC, is sent around the shows? How fantastic are these seed exchanges that even after sending out thousands of packets of seed there are still such gems to be found ?  I know I have often been surprised when looking at the tray of surplus seed, (even when we at Aberdeen are the last SRGC "Spring" show) to see items that I would have thought would have been snapped up long since! 

[Oron Peri]

David and Maggi,

I have decided to give some color to this new thread...
It is still early for their bloom season, so here are some photos i took last year.

[tonyg]

Were these photos taken at home or on your travels Oron?  They have a wild look about them

[Oron Peri]

Tony,

All photos are taken in the wild, although i grow all these species in pots.
Generally i prefer taking photos in the natural habitat, some how plants look to me happier.

[Tony Willis]

Oron lovely pictures.

I see that R phoenicia is supposed to flower January to March so it must be an early season.

I have R. bulbocodium collected in Greece in 1997 which flowers reliably every year in about  march. I have never tried any of the South African ones.

[ashley]

Wonderful to see these Romulea and Ornithogalum in the wild; many thanks Oron.

Those bulbocodium look quite different to the form most widely grown here.  The second one is particularly fine I think. 

[Maggi Young]

I see that R phoenicia is supposed to flower January to March so it must be an early season.

Tony, I think you missed that Oron tells us these photos are from last year.... he is just whetting our appetites for the coming year!

[Tony Willis]

Sorry further lack of attention to detail.Maggi good job you are on hand to keep us on our toes

[Maggi Young]

Please don't apologise, Tony, I meant no criticism... it's part of my forum task to read everything...... of only I could remember the half of it!! 

[Oron Peri]

I see that R phoenicia is supposed to flower January to March so it must be an early season.
I have R. bulbocodium collected in Greece in 1997 which flowers reliably every year in about  march. I have never tried any of the South African ones.

Tony
 You are right,R. phoenicia is the first to flower [starting mid January].
If you ask me this species is not other then the common R. tempskiana.

R. tempskiana is very common in S, SE Turkey and Cyprus, while R. phoenicia grow in S Lebanon and Israel but there is not even one difference between the two.

Lately a new species from Jordan was discovered: R. petraea which differs from these by having a dark violet throat
insted of yellow, it grows in the area of Petra, I plan to go there next February in order to find it...

[Oron Peri]

Wonderful to see these Romola and Ornithogalum in the wild; many thanks Oron.
Those bulbocodium look quite different to the form most widely grown here.  The second one is particularly fine I think. 

Thanks Ashley,
R. bulbocodium is the most variable, apart of the fact that it can be found in N. Africa, S. Europe and through all the Mediterranean. I'm not even sure they all belong to this species..
Even here in Israel every colony is slightly different in color and flower size.

[Michael]

The flora of Madeira mentions that there is an endemic species of Romulea both from Madeira and the Canary Islands, called Romulea columnae subsp. grandiscapa. But i had never seen this one. In what kind of habitats do Romulea species occur? I would love to see this one in the wild!

[Hans J]

Here are some pics of Romulea from my travels on greek islands :

the first two are from Andros ( spring 2008 )





the third is from Ikaria ( spring 2006 )




 knows anyone a name for this plants ?

[Tony Willis]

here is the one I collected in Greece in flower last spring. I said 1997 in my previous post but it was actually 1987. Now seems a long time ago,time flys.