Romnalda

Abstract: Summary. Romnalda grallata sp. nov. from North Queensland is described. Romnalda P. F. Stevens till now has been considered a monotypic Papuasian endemic. R. grallata has chromosome number 2n = 16. Its phaseolate meridionally sulculate pollen with a corrugulate-perforate exine provides additional evidence for including this species in Romnalda. The significance of pollen morphology and chromosome numbeF in considering generic limits ofLomandra Labill. is discussed. Being aware of my current cyto-taxonomic studies on Australian members of the Dianelleae (Liliaceae s. 1.), Mr B. Hyland of the Queensland Forest Research Station, Atherton (QRS) t, submitted for my opinion what he thought might be an 'odd Dianella' he collected in 1973 at Mt Lewis, North Queensland. His specimen was not of a Dianella species nor was it related to that genus, but while I was trying to establish its correct identity, it became clear that the plant was undescribed and probably represented a new genus related to Lomandra Labill., currently included in the Xanthorrhoeaceae by most Australian botanists. Enquiries of Mrs A. Lee, an Australian specialist on Lomandra, revealed that Dr P. F. Stevens of the Arnold Arboretum (A) then had a similar plant from New Guinea under study which he was intending to place in a new genus. Following correspondence with Stevens and the subsequent appearance of his paper on the Xeroteae of the Liliaceae (Stevens 1978), together with my follow-up studies including consideration of pollen morphology and chromosome numbers in the group, I am now convinced Hyland's plant represents a second species of Stevens' genus Romnalda (typified by R. papuana (Lauterb.) Stevens) which hitherto was considered monospecific and confined to Papuasia.