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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.

Dictyopteris woodwardia (Turner) C.Agardh

Reference
Syn.Alg.Scand. 21 (1817)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus erect, pale to dark brown, to 30 cm tall, dichotomously to alternately branched. Axes flattened, 2–10 mm wide, with a prominent midrib. Marginal serrations generally conspicuous, but in some specimens poorly developed. Lower axes often denuded. Hair tufts in 2 rows on either side of the midrib. Sporangia scattered, solitary or in small groups, in narrow elongate bands, parallel to and close to the midrib. Hair bundles not surrounded by sporangia. Tetrasporangia dark brown, ovoid to spherical, 110–160 µm diam. in surface view, embedded in the thallus.

Distribution. Known from Ningaloo Reef, near Exmouth, W.A., across northern Australia to Magnetic Island, Qld. Also in the Seychelles, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Habitat. Generally epilithic in the shallow subtidal.

[After Huisman & Phillips, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 200 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Carnarvon, Pilbara.
IBRA Subregions
Cape Range, Roebourne.
IMCRA Regions
Canning, Kimberley, Ningaloo, North West Shelf, Pilbara (nearshore), Pilbara (offshore).
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Ashburton, Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, Exmouth, Karratha, Wyndham-East Kimberley.