European Romuleas

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:43:16 PST
Mary Sue wrote,
>Angelo says these plants are instead Romulea ramiflora which has a 
>rather wide distribution in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and 
>Greece. Since one of the photos on the wiki showed the back of the 
>tepals and the bracts (often an important identification feature of 
>Romulea species)  and since he has the key (in Italian that he can 
>read) he can confirm what they are.

Would Angelo be able to post the key or a link to it on the wiki or 
on this list? I have quite a number of European Romulea species in 
the bulb house, grown from seed from various sources under various 
names, and I would like to confirm (or disconfirm) their identity.

People rarely think of growing European romuleas because they're 
little and don't make much of a splash, but grouped closely they're 
pretty, and nothing could be easier from seed. I used to have a 
strain of Romulea bulbocodium called 'Knightshayes Form' that was 
quite showy, brilliant purple and rather large-flowered, but I put it 
in the garden where it promptly was eaten by voles. I'd be glad to 
get it again if possible.

Most of these species are purple (often with brownish stripes) or 
white, but there is one golden yellow one, R. crocea. It's in flower 
here now. When I had it in a pot the relatively large flowers were 
held several inches above the soil surface on stems that tended to 
flop, but now that it's planted in a raised bed they opened almost at 
ground level, which is something that pleases the alpine gardener if 
not every gardener.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA



More information about the pbs mailing list