- Reference
- Proc.Calif.Acad.Sci. 12:742-743, Pl. 46a, 72, 73 (1924)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus with limited prostrate terete axes to 0.5 mm diam., attached by peg-like laterals, bearing erect axes to 45 mm tall. Erect axes flattened, to 1.5 mm broad, 130–150 µm thick, bearing flattened lateral branches from the margins in a subopposite to alternate, distichous pattern. Structure uniaxial, with a prominent dome- or wedge-shaped apical cell; in section with a medulla of longitudinal filaments, these cross-linked by pit connections, and a cortex of 3–5 layers of smaller pigmented cells, the outermost slightly elongate. Rhizines conspicuous in the medulla/cortex interface, c. 5 µm diam. Outer cells rounded in surface view, 3–5 µm wide, in vague meandering longitudinal lines, with occasional larger cells to 7 µm wide which are slightly immersed and produce elongate hairs.
Reproduction. Spermatangia forming in irregularly shaped sori near branch apices, cut off from surface cells. Cystocarps forming subapically on primary and lateral branches, protuberant, bilocular. Tetrasporangia not observed.
Distribution. Widespread in the Pacific Ocean.
Habitat. Epilithic in the intertidal.
[After J.M. Huisman, G.H. Boo & S.M. Boo in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 248–250 (2018)]