- Reference
- Rhodomelac.Golfes Neapel 315 (1901)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus medium red-brown, slender, largely erect, 2–8 cm high, with determinate laterals pectinately arranged, 3 between the indeterminate branches, basal prostrate axes attached by rhizoids; epiphytic, especially on Posidonia. Structure. Apices more-or-less unilaterally branched, apical cells hemispherical, 10–15 µm in diameter. Pericentral cells 10–12 in axes, 8–10 in determinate laterals, axes 160–300 µm in diameter with segments L/D 0.8–1.2, determinate laterals 1–2 mm long, 50–110 µm in diameter and tapering gently, with segments L/D 1–1.6. Trichoblasts (juvenile) present on determinate laterals, 0.5–1 mm long, basal cells 10–12 µm in diameter. Rhizoids cut off from pericentral cells, unicellular with digitate haptera. Cells probably multinucleate; rhodoplasts discoid.
Reproduction. Gametophytes unknown. Tetrasporangia in prominent moniliform series of 2–8 indeterminate laterals, 90–140 µm in diameter and swelling the diameter of the lateral to 130–180 µm.
Distribution. Albany, W. Aust., to N Tas., but apparently rare.
[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia IIID: 297 (2003)]