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 Conservation listings displayed on Florabase may also be out of date.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.

Halimeda distorta (Yamada) Hillis-Col.

Reference
J.Phycol. 4:33 (1968)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus green to pale green (drying grey to cream), forming sprawling irregularly shaped decumbent clumps spreading laterally for some distance over firm substrata, attached at several points. Branching dichotomous or trichotomous, with successive segments mostly not aligned. Segments heavily calcified, reniform to subcircular, occasionally trilobed or with scalloped margins, 8–12 mm long and 9–15 mm wide, often prominently curved, with central and radiating ribs often conspicuous in dried material. Cortex with utricles in 2 or 3 layers; peripheral utricles obconical in side view, slightly constricted at the base, 30–50 μm diam. and polygonal in surface view, remaining laterally attached after decalcification. Secondary and tertiary utricles cylindrical and occasionally without constrictions, 25–36 μm diam. Medullary siphons 80–120 μm diam., fusing at nodes in groups of 3 or 4 for c. 110 μm.

Distribution. Tropical Indo-west Pacific.

Habitat. Usually growing on rock.

[After Huisman & Verbruggen, Algae of Australia: Mar. Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 1. Green and Brown Algae 128 (2015)]

John Huisman and Cheryl Parker, 3 August 2021

Distribution

IMCRA Regions
Kimberley, Ningaloo.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, Exmouth, Wyndham-East Kimberley.