Nomenclature

Species name:

Romulea ramiflora   Ten.

Author(s):

Michele Tenore
   Italy, 1780-1861

Common name:

Sand Crocus

Maltese name:

Żagħfran tal-blat

Plant Family:

Iridaceae   (Iris Family)

Name Derivation:

Romulea = A Genus named for Romulus, legendary leader of the Romans and founder of Rome (Latin);

ramiflora = Flowers borne on older stems (Latin).

Synonyms:

Trichonema ramiflorum, Romulea anceps, R. corsica, R. junicfolia, R. tenella, R. bulbocodium subsp. ramiflora

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Steppe, garigue and rocky places especially by the coast.

Sources in Malta:

Common at many coastal areas around Malta, Gozo and Comino. Some examples include Gharmier (Mellieha), Selmun, Hagar Qim (Qrendi), Zurrieq and Dingli Cliffs.

Plant Height:

5cm high, but trailing leaves grow up to 10cm

Flowering Time:

Feb-Mar

A variable and short monocot plant (about 5cm high) that is found scattered throughout many garigue areas of the Maltese islands. They grow from shallow-buried, oval corms which are covered by a hard brown tunic.

In mid Autumn, the corm produces 3 to 6 linear leaves which are initially erect and then curve down and continue trailing on the grow nd. They are long and slender; 5-10 cm long and 1-2mm wide. Their length is wavy and usually have channeled cross section.

The plant forms 1 to 3 flowers each supported by a spathe made up of 2 flap-like bracts also referred to as valves. Their texture - herbaceous (leaf-like) or scarious (scale-like or papery) - play an important role for the identification of the Romulea species, at least those found on the Maltese islands. Romulea ramiflora have both valves herbaceous or the upper valve may possess a narrow scarious margin.

The solitary terminal flower is supported by a green, glabrous flower stalk (peduncle) about 15-40 mm long. The actinomorphic corolla is formed by 6, identical perianth segments (tepals) that are usually violet and somehow shiny. In some specimen, the darker veins are well visible. At the mouth of the flower, the petals turn to a pale yellow or whitish colour. Tips are rounded or blunt but not pointed.

The female reproductive part consists of a spherical ovary at the base of the flower tube with a central style that splits into 3 curved white stigma, more or less the same level of the anthers. The male reproductive part consists of 3 stamens with elongated, stout anthers each covered by bright yellow pollen. The anthers and stigma are close to each other and located at the mouth of the flower.

The fruit capsule is an oval to cylindrical structure with 3 longitudinal lobes and about 1 cm long. Around March/April, it splits open into 3 parts and so exposes the stored orange-brown seeds. These are more or less spherical in shape and about 2mm in diameter. The seeds survive the long and arid summer and germinate after the first heavy rainfalls in October.

Feature	Romulea ramiflora	Romulea melitensis	Romulea rollii	Romulea columnae
Valves of spathe	Both herbaceous sometimes with a narrow scarious margin	Both herbaceous sometimes with a narrow scarious margin	Both or at least the upper valve is totally scarious	Upper valve not wholly scarious - scarious part restricted to a thick border of this valve
Tepal width	3mm - 5mm	1mm	3mm - 5mm	2mm - 4mm
Tepal apex	rounded, broad	pointed or slightly blunt	pointed	pointed
Flower colour	violet	deep violet	white, lilac or violet	often white or lilac, ocassionally violet
Leaf width	1.0 - 1.5mm	1.0 - 1.5mm	Less than 0.8mm	0.5 - 1.0 mm
Leaf growth	Initially erect and then recurved down to the ground	Initially erect and then recurved down to the ground	Leaves appressed (trailing) to the ground	Initially erect and then recurved down to the ground

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