Skip to main content

Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system and census were set to read-only mode on 1 October 2025. Taxonomic updates published since this time are not being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or Western Australia’s taxonomic names census (Nomos). Conservation listings displayed on Florabase may also be out of date. Please refer to DBCA’s Threatened species and communities webpage for the most recent Threatened and Priority Flora List, noting that recent taxonomic updates are similarly not included. Our database migration is moving to a staging phase. We thank you for your patience as we ensure the integrity of our biodiversity data, develop new workflows, and train staff to use the new systems. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, 1 October 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Friday, 1 January 2027 +08:00.

Rhipilia crassa A.Millar & Kraft

Reference
Phycologia 40:32-33, Figs 37-40, 53-58 (2001)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus spongy, medium green, attached by a narrow basal region that broadens to a peltate or irregular blade to 30 mm wide, often growing in clusters and anastomosing marginally with adjacent plants. Blades a coarse meshwork of several layers of siphons, these 60–100 μm diam., dichotomously to laterally branched, often with equal constrictions above branching points and rare shallow intercalary constrictions. Primary siphons bearing short lateral siphons, mostly unconstricted, straight or often curved, with terminal tenaculae, these 4–7-pronged, the prongs occasionally further divided and forming attachments to adjacent siphons. Apices of siphons rounded at the thallus margins and elsewhere when not involved with lateral attachment.

Distribution. Northern W.A., also in the southern Great Barrier Reef and the Philippines.

Habitat. Epilithic in the subtidal.

[After Huisman & Verbruggen, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 140 (2015)]