Citation: Maratti, Pl. Rom. Sat. 13 (1772).

Derivation: After Romulus, the legendary founder of the city-state of Rome.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Onion-grasses.

Description:
Small deciduous perennial herbs; corm globose, with a hard smooth brown tunic; leaves few, basal, filiform, subterete, lax, tough.

Scapes erect, terete, much shorter than the leaves; flower solitary, sessile in a terminal spathe of 2 acute subequal bracts, erect, actinomorphic; perianth funnel-shaped, with a very short tube; lobes equal, spreading; stamens equilateral, alternating with the style branches; filaments free, short; anthers erect, basifixed, connivent; style branches 3, filiform, deeply 2-fid, hardly exceeding the stamens.

Fruiting scapes decurved, later straightening again; capsule ovoid-cylindric, partly enclosed by the spathes, coriaceous; seeds numerous, compressed-globose. (M.P. de Vos (1972) Jl S. Afr. Bot. Suppl. 9.)

Distribution:  About 90 species in Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean region; 4 naturalised in Australia.

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Flowers 8-15 mm long; perianth lobes obtuse	R. minutiflora 1.
1. Flowers 15-25 mm long; perianth lobes acute	R. rosea 2.

Author: Not yet available