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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

Chaetomorpha valida (Hook.f. & Harv.) Kütz.

Reference
Sp.Alg. 379 (1849)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus dark green, loose-lying and forming entangled masses to 15 cm across and 1–5 cm thick, of curved, often crisped, rigid filaments, in the uppermost sublittoral of sheltered habitats. Filaments without attachment cells and of similar diameter throughout. Cells (300–)350–400 µm in diameter and L/B (1.5–)2–3(–4), not or slightly incised at the cross walls; lateral walls 30–60 µm thick, cross walls 8–15 µm thick; chloroplasts densely reticulate to discoid and closely aggregated, with numerous pyrenoids; nuclei numerous.

Reproduction.Unknown.

Distribution.From Venus Bay, S. Aust., to Port Phillip, Vic., and Port Arthur, Tas.

Habitat. C. valida usually grows on tidal flats in sheltered localities.

[after Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia I: 178 (1984)]

John Huisman & Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Warren.
IBRA Subregions
Warren.
IMCRA Regions
Leeuwin-Naturaliste.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Augusta Margaret River.