- Reference
- Austral.J.Bot. 289-290, fig. 17H-N (1968)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus red-brown, with prostrate branched axes bearing erect laterals 5–15 mm high, pinnae opposite, distichous, with opposite pinnules of equal development from each rachis cell above the basal cell. Attachment by clusters of branched rhizoids arising from the basal cells of pinnae, each branch developing terminal branched haptera. Structure. Apical cells 8–10 µm in diameter and L/D 1–1.5, enlarging to 90–120 µm in diameter and L/D 1.5–2 in mature axial cells. Pinnae 500–1000 µm and 12–24 cells long, with a small rounded basal cell (without pinnules) and each rachis cell above bearing opposite pinnules, simple apart from frequent branches on the lower 1 or 2 pinnules, rachis cells 30–45 µm in diameter and L/D 1–1.5, pinnule cells 10–22 µm in diameter and L/D 0.7–1.3, decreasing slightly to terminal cells with rounded ends; gland cells on short, 3–6-celled, pinnules, ovoid, 15–20 µm in diameter. Lateral branches arising irregularly, 2–7 axial cells apart, from the basal cells of pinnae. Cells uninucleate; rhodoplasts discoid, elongate in larger cells.
Reproduction. Unknown.
Distribution. Rottnest I., W. Aust., to Kangaroo I., S. Aust., and possibly Tas. N.S.W.
Habitat. Epiphytic on various algae.
[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia IIIC: 108 (1998)]