European And Mediterranean Romuleas

One center of distribution of the genus Romulea is in western Europe and the area around the Mediterranean basin. Species from this area are pictured on this wiki page.


South African Romulea a-d - South African Romulea e-k - South African Romulea l-n - South African Romulea o-s - South African Romulea t-z - Romulea index


Romulea bulbocodium (L.) Sebast. & Mauri is found in rocky or sandy places in most part of the Mediterranean basin. The flowers, which are among the largest of the genus, are usually bluish lilac with a yellow center and are shaded purple or green on the outside. A series of photos of this species in habitat in Apulia in Southern Italy, followed by a couple of photos of cultivated plants in open ground in a semi-wild way. Photos by Angelo Porcelli.

Romulea bulbocodium, Angelo PorcelliRomulea bulbocodium, Angelo PorcelliRomulea bulbocodium, Angelo PorcelliRomulea bulbocodium, Angelo PorcelliRomulea bulbocodium, Angelo Porcelli

Photos of seed, the first by M. Gastil-Buhl shows seed from PBS BX 317 #6 on a 1 mm grid; the second by David Pilling.

Romulea bulbocodium seed, M. Gastil-BuhlRomulea bulbocodium seed, David Pilling

A rare pure albino form, without any hint of colour even on the back of tepals. Photo by Angelo Porcelli.

Romulea bulbocodium alba, Angelo PorcelliRomulea bulbocodium alba, Angelo Porcelli

This form was acquired from Jane McGary as Romulea bulbocodium ssp. zahnii. The origin of this plant name is not clear. Photo by Bob Rutemoeller showing the stigma overtopping the stamens which is a feature of this species and photos by Mary Sue Ittner show the colorful back of the tepals and the corms.

Romulea bulbocodium, Bob RutemoellerRomulea bulbocodium back, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea bulbocodium corms, Mary Sue Ittner

Romulea bulbocodium var. crocea (Boiss. & Heldr.) Baker , syn. Romulea crocea Boiss. & Heldr., is a yellow form from Turkey and Syria where it grows in sandy soils. Photos by Mary Sue Ittner including the corms on a 1 cm grid.

Romulea bulbocodium var. crocea, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea bulbocodium var. crocea, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea bulbocodium var. crocea corms, Mary Sue Ittner

Romulea clusiana (Lange) Nyman is the showiest species of Romulea in the Mediterranean. It has a large, sessile flower purple with deep yellow throat. Distributed in Spain, Portugal and coastal NE. Africa, it flowers in February. The first photo taken by Oron Peri of a plant in his collection. Photo 2-3 were taken by Nhu Nguyen. Photo 3 was from the UC Botanical Garden.

Romulea clusiana, Oron PeriRomulea clusiana, UC Botanical Garden, Nhu NguyenRomulea bulbocodium var. bulbocodium, Nhu Nguyen

Photos below from Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner.

Romulea clusiana, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea clusiana, Bob RutemoellerRomulea clusiana, Bob RutemoellerRomulea clusiana, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea clusiana, Bob Rutemoeller

Romulea columnae Sebast. & Mauri has small white or pale lilac pointed flowers with darker veins. This is a very short plant from Europe, Great Britain, and North Africa. This one came in with seed of Crocus corsicus (ex wild) and is photographed by Tony Goode. The second photo by Angelo Porcelli shows the very tiny size of the flower compared to a fingernail.

Romulea columnae, Tony GoodeRomulea columnae, Angelo Porcelli

Romulea columnae ssp. grandiscapa (Webb) G.Kunkel, syn. Romulea hartungii Parl. ex G.Hartung and sometimes seen in seed lists as Romulea grandiscapa is native to the Canary Islands, purple with a yellow throat, and is easy to grow in cultivation in summer-dry conditions. First photo by Mary Sue Ittner. Second photo by Michael Mace, showing a form that is darker in the throat and almost white at the tepal tips. The last two photos from Bob Werra.

Romulea columnae ssp. grandiscapa, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea columnae ssp. grandiscapa, Michael MaceRomulea columnae ssp. grandiscapa, Bob WerraRomulea columnae ssp. grandiscapa, Bob Werra

Romulea engleri Bég. is endemic to Morocco. According to this site it is declining. The habitat and ecology is described on that site as: "Typical habitats include wet meadows, sandy pastures, Mediterranean forest, woodlands, woodland clearings, peat bogs (pozzines) and scrub. This tuber geophyte species prefers dry to moist humid calcareous and siliceous substrates, well drained sandy, fersiallitic loamy soils. It grows in full sun, light to mid-shade and flowers between December and March. It has been found in a sub-humid Mediterranean bioclimate with an annual rainfall ranging from 350 mm to 800 mm." Photos below from Fouad Msanda and Jean-Claude Thiaudière shown here under a creative commons license, originally from the Plant Biodiversity of South-Western Morocco website where it is described as a common species on the limestone sands of the Mehdia coast in Essaouira.

Romulea engleri, Fouad Msanda, CC BY-NCRomulea engleri, Fouad Msanda, CC BY-NCRomulea engleri, Jean-Claude Thiaudière, CC BY-NCRomulea engleri, Jean-Claude Thiaudière, CC BY-NCRomulea engleri, Jean-Claude Thiaudière, CC BY-NC

Romulea ligustica Parl. is found in Sardinia and Liguria and also said to occur on the Western Mediterranean coasts of Northern Africa and Southern Spain. It is a winter flowering species with a lovely soft shade of lilac and pale blue, with a small white throat. A very rewarding species in cultivation, long flowering with several blossoms per corm. Photo 1 by Angelo Porcelli; photo 2 by Oron Peri showing the North African form from Morocco.

Romulea ligustica, Angelo PorcelliRomulea ligustica, Oron Peri

Romulea linaresii Parl. is found East Aegean Islands, Greece, Crete, Sicily, Tunisia, and Turkey. It is similar to Romulea ramiflora but each bract has a membranous margin and the entire flower is violet. Photos from iNaturalist taken by David Renoult in February in Sicily and shared under a CC BY-NC license.

Romulea linaresii, David Renoult, iNaturalist, CC BY-NCRomulea linaresii, David Renoult, iNaturalist, CC BY-NC

Romulea linaresii ssp. graeca Bég. is native to Greece, Crete and western Turkey where it grows in wet spots in open woodland, pastures, and shrubby vegetation and flowers February to April. Flowers are smaller than the type, violet purple with yellow anthers above the stigma. Photos from iNaturalist taken by Georgios Mesimeris in Greece in March and shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

Romulea linaresii ssp. graeca, Georgios Mesimeris, iNaturalist, CC BY-NC-SARomulea linaresii ssp. graeca, Georgios Mesimeris, iNaturalist, CC BY-NC-SA

Romulea nivalis (Boiss. & Kotschy) Klatt Upright growth and smallish flowers are distinctive features of this species. Native of Syria, Lebanon and Israel, it appears soon after snow melts at high elevations. First photo by Tony Goode is rather dark. Photos 2 and 3 were taken in its habitat on Mt. Hermon, North Israel at 2100 m by Oron Peri.

Romulea nivalis, Tony GoodeRomulea nivalis, Oron PeriRomulea nivalis, Oron Peri

Romulea phoenicia Mouterde is a species from Israel. First two pictures shows plants in the wild. Third from left shows ripening seed capsules. Next is the corm, and seeds on the last picture. All photos by Gideon Pisanty.

Romulea phoenicia growing among rocks in Israel, Gideon PisantyRomulea phoenicia, note the stigma, Gideon PisantyRomulea phoenicia capsules, Gideon PisantyRomulea phoenicia corm, Gideon PisantyRomulea phoenicia seeds in the palm of a hand, Gideon Pisanty

Photos from Shmuel Silinsky of plants grown from seed collected from a plant in Mount Carmel, Israel.

Romulea phoenicia, Shmuel SilinskyRomulea phoenicia, drying seed pods, Shmuel SilinskyRomulea phoenicia seeds, Shmuel Silinsky

Romulea ramiflora Ten. has a rather wide distribution in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. This species has a violet-lilac perianth with darker veins and a yellow throat. The back of the tepals are green and the upper bract has a membranous margin while the lower bract is green. The stigmas are about the same height as the stamens. Photos below are of plants that we were slow to identify correctly. The first grown by Tony Goode shows a plant in cultivation in the UK thought to be Romulea bulbocodium. It seeds around gently in the garden and breeds true. The plants in the next photos were grown from seed exchange and labeled Romulea linaresii and Romulea ramiflora. With the help of Angelo Porcelli we have at last sorted them out. Photo #2 by Bob Rutemoeller. Photos #3-4 by Mary Sue Ittner shows the flower being pollinated the first day it opened and the bracts and the markings on the back. A pbs list member from Southern California reports that this species became invasive in his garden. It has not been a problem in Northern California however. Photograph of corms on a 1 cm grid by M. Gastil-Buhl.

Romulea ramiflora, Tony GoodeRomulea ramiflora, Bob RutemoellerRomulea ramiflora, pollinator, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea ramiflora, back, Mary Sue IttnerRomulea ramiflora corms, M. Gastil-Buhl

Romulea tempskyana Freyn is present in the island of Cyprus, also Aegean Islands, Turkey and Palestine. Photos by Alessandro Marinello.

Romulea tempskyana, Alessandro MarinelloRomulea tempskyana, Alessandro MarinelloRomulea tempskyana, Alessandro Marinello

South African Romulea a-d - South African Romulea e-k - South African Romulea l-n - South African Romulea o-s - South African Romulea t-z - Romulea index


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