Romulea columnae (Sand crocus) is a herbaceous perennial in the family Iridaceae.
It is a small plant, which has small white or pale lilac pointed flowers with darker veins. It is found in a wide area ranging from western Europe to the Medittereanean.
Description
Height: Up to 4 cm
Flowers: Six pale purple, equally-sized petals, pointed at the tip, crossed by a dark midvein and a pair of lighter lateral veins; up to 10 mm in diameter. Sometimes more uniformly darker purple, or pink. Greenish-yellow at the centre. Usually solitary; occasionally in pairs. There are three stamens, topped by yellow anthers
Leaves: Linear, up to 10 cm long and 2 mm wide, curly and somewhat wiry, growing from the base
Season: March to May[3]
This is also a rare native of parts of southern Britain, whence the name ‘Sand Crocus” has arisen, from it’s earliest known habitats and its superficial similarity to the latter plant.[4]
Each tiny corm makes one or two basal leaves and several cauline (stem) leaves which are very narrow, wiry and quite inconspicuous. One to three flowers are made per corm and these are made almost at ground level or on a very short stem, early in the year, from February onwards with us. The flowers are funnel-shaped.
In this stock, raised from seed traceable only to the eastern Mediterranean, the flowers are coloured with violet throughout the petals, though this is darker towards the petal tips and there is some strong and beautifully feathered veining. The interface between the deep, golden-yellow throat and the violet of the petals is clearly marked out with a pale, whitish-violet. Externally the darker colouration continues and the petals are lined and stained deep purple-brown.
We keep this under alpine glass as it is a diminutive species, easily lost sight of in the garden and we enjoy its very early flowers inside, where we have it in small pans of well-drained, loam-based compost, dried off in early summer once the leaves yellow. A trouble-free little plant not needing a whole lot of attention but giving abundant rewards in miniature.[4]
The stout and recurved leaves are 2-3 inches long.
It has a perianth which is nearly white with one purple stripe.
The style is shorter than the stamens.[5]
Romulea's are related to crocus and look very similar but the big difference is that crocus flowers are stemless, growing directly from the corm. Though the flowers are held above the ground on a long perianth tube, there is no green stem (scape). The leaves are also different and romuleas do not have the white grove in the centre of their leaves. Romulea's hold their flowers on a green scape of various lengths and in Romulea columnae this can be up to 20cm high. The species is found throughout Europe (including the UK where it is found in south Devon and the Channel Isles) but, as far as I can ascertain, in the Canaries it is represented by Romulea columnae ssp. grandiscapa which is distinct by the flower colour I think and all the plants I saw were a bright lavender or lilac rather than the paler shades more typical of the species.
[6]
It is commonly known as sand crocus[4][3] and occasionally as dune crocus',[8] In Malta it is known as the Lesser sand crocus due to other endemic Romulea species.[9]
It was published and described by 2 Italian botanists, Francesco Antonio Sebastiani and Ernesto Mauri in 'Fl. Roman. Prodr.' vol.18 in 1818.[1][11][12][13]
Romulea columnae subsp. grandiscapa (Webb) G.Kunkel, Monogr. Biol. Canar. 3: 25 (1972).[17] a native to the Canary Islands,[18] with a flower that is purple with a yellow throat.[19]
We keep this under alpine glass as it is a diminutive species, easily lost sight of in the garden and we enjoy its very early flowers inside, where we have it in small pans of well-drained, loam-based compost, dried off in early summer once the leaves yellow. A trouble-free little plant not needing a whole lot of attention but giving abundant rewards in miniature.[4]
^[plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:966453-1 "Romulea columnae subsp. assumptionis (Font Quer) O.Bolòs, Vigo, Masalles & Ninot | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science"]. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 7 June 2021. ((cite web)): Check |url= value (help)
