- Reference
- Eur.J.Phycol. 463 (1999)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus dark brown-red, firm, cartilaginous, 2–7 cm high, with one to several main branches bearing irregularly radially lesser branches for 3 or 4 orders, mostly 2–6 mm apart, alternate to subopposite (then appearing "cruciate"), branched at wide angles, terete and of uniform diameter, 0.7–1(–1.2) mm in main branches, 0.5–1 mm in lesser branches, with slightly broader, truncated apices. Holdfast small, discoid; usually epiphytic on Amphibolis. Structure. Epidermal cells rounded to oval near apices, 10–20 µm across with the gelatinous wall matrix often polygonal, elongating to L/D 2–5 below, without secondary pit-connections or corps en cerise; in section, epidermal cells compact, palisade-like and L/D 1.5–2 near apices, 2–5(–8) in older parts; cortical cells compact with slight spaces, cells becoming thick walled with occasional massive thickenings. Cells with discoid to elongate rhodoplasts, chained in larger cells.
Reproduction.Female plants unknown. Spermatangial ramuli with terminal receptacles 0.7–1 mm across. Stichidial branchlets short, simple, clavate, with broad truncated apices, tetrasporangia cut off abaxially in right-angle arrangement, subspherical to ovoid, 90–120 µm in diameter, tetrahedrally to decussately divided.
Distribution.Houtman Abrolhos, W. Aust., to Kingston, S. Aust., in isolated localities. N.S.W. Tropical Indian Ocean.
[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia IIID: 483–484 (2003)]