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Telopea Vol. 6(4): 1996 
Holotype: Northern Territory: Black Jungle Reserve, 12°30'S 131°12'E, S.M. Taylor 
218, 21 Dec 1994 (DNA, fl.). 
Deciduous geophyte; corm cream, hemispherical, c. 1.5 cm diam., orientated on its 
side; foliage leaves 5 together; petiole 4 cm long, sheathing in the lower 3.5 cm; free 
portion of petiole c. 1.5 mm diam., channelled; sheathing portion membranous, 
weak, to c. 5 mm wide, subterranean; leaf blade dull light green, somewhat coriaceous, 
± elliptic, the base obtuse, the tip shortly apiculate, blade of first foliage leaf much 
reduced, c. 1 cm long, the remainder c. 3.5 cm long x 1.7 cm wide; midrib somewhat 
prominent at the base abaxially, elsewhere ± flush with lamina; primary lateral 
veins c. 3 on each side of the midrib, diverging at c. 30°, slightly impressed abaxially, 
slightly raised adaxially. Inflorescence terminal, arising among the leaves of which 
some precede and some follow it (i.e. current growth comprised of parts of each of 
two modules of a sympodium); peduncle equalling the sheathing portion of the 
petiole, c. 2.5 mm diam., faintly angled in cross-section; lower spathe white with 
vertical maroon stripes and a grey-maroon ring at the top, cup-shaped, abruptly 
constricted at the apex, c. 1.2 cm diam., keeled abaxially, faintly longitudinally ribbed; 
spathe limb light green outside, brownish maroon within, ± lanceolate, c. 5 cm long 
X 1.5 cm wide near the base, erect to slightly deflexed; spadix shorter than the 
spathe, 4.5 cm long, sessile; female zone c. 3 mm long; pistils acroscopic, narrowly 
obpyramidal, ridged longitudinally, c. 1 mm tall, stigma very prominent, dome¬ 
shaped, papillate; sterile interstice c. 1.7 cm long, naked except for filiform neuter 
organs in the lower 3 mm, very slender; neuter organs also distributed within and 
immediately below the female zone, c. 7 mm long, erect and straight except for 
curved-over distal 1 mm; male zone 6 mm long, 3mm wide from the side, laterally 
compressed; male flowers not discernible as such, the zone ostensibly a mass of 
stamens; anthers cream, sessile, dumb-bell-shaped from above, but with the 
connective c. twice the height of the thecae; appendix chocolate brown, sessile, c. 
5mm wide at base in lateral view, compressed, c. 2 mm wide in dorsiventral view, 
longitudinally ridged, rugose, tapering to a rather blunt point; infructescence 
unknown. Fig. f. 
Derivation of epithet: this species is named in honour of L.A.S. Johnson, venerable 
Australian botanist, following the occasion of his seventieth birthday. 
Flowering period: December. 
Habitat: Open grassy clearing between Acacia auriculiformis/Melaletica forest and 
Lophostenion lactifliius forest near flood plain edge, in sandy well drained soil with 
high water table during wet season. 
Distribution: known only from the type locality. 
Proposed conservation status: 2KCi. [For explanation of ROTAP codes, see Briggs & 
Leigh, 1988]. 
Notes: The occurrence of neuter organs amongst and below the pistils is not recorded 
in any other species of the genus (cf. Sriboonma et al. 1994). Acroscopic pistils are 
also found in T. nudibaccatum A. Hay (Kimberleys) and T. joriesii (Tiwi Islands), in 
Lazarum and in the allied Indian Theriophomim Schott, but not apparently in Asiatic 
or other Australian Typhonium species, though T. filiforme Ridl. (Malay Peninsula, 
Thailand) approaches this state. The organization of the shoot in this species 
corresponds to stem type D in Murata's study of diversity of shoot morphology in 
Typhonium (Murata 1990: fig. 5). 
Paratype: Northern Territory: Black Jungle Reserve, north end, Taylor 156, 30 Nov 
1993 (DNA, spirit, fl.; NSW, photo). 
