Romulea montana

Growing on sandstone outcrops in the northwestern Cape, South Africa, Romulea montana is a cormous Iridaceae 8 to 30 cm tall. Its flowers, shiny buttercup yellow, bear dark streaks or blotches in the throat, sometimes absent; the plant usually carries two thread-like leaves and green bracts with broad, brownish membranous margins. The backs of the outer segments are brown or reddish brown, sometimes faintly veined. The corm has a wide, oblique, crescent-shaped basal ridge, its tunic splitting into parallel fibrils. It flowers in late winter and early spring, in well-drained, sunny conditions.