- Reference
- Phycologia 32:452, Figs 6-10 (1993)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus erect to partly decumbent, to 4.5 mm tall, with distichous indeterminate lateral branches every 3 or 4 axial cells. Branches (primary axes together with whorl branches) terete, 250–500 μm diam., not noticeably mucilaginous. Structure with 4 equal whorl branches per axial cell, these slightly upturned near the apex, 150–250 long, 3 or 4 times divided, dichotomously divided from the basal cell, the distal divisions trichotomous to tetrachotomous. All divisions of the whorl branches divaricate. Cells of primary axes 7–10 μm diam. near the apex, 45–55 μm diam. at mid-plant [L:B c. 3], and 75–220 μm diam. near the base [L:B c. 1.5]. Terminal cells of whorls tapering but not pointed. Vesicular cells rare to common on cells of whorl branches, pyriform to spherical, 10–30 μm diam.
Reproduction. Tetrasporangia solitary and adaxial on basal cells of whorl branches, spherical, 60–85 μm diam. (including a thick wall), tetrahedrally divided. Other reproductive structures not observed.
Distribution. Known from several locations in the north-western (Necker and Laysan Islands) and main (Oahu) Hawaiian Islands, as well as Torres Strait, Queensland and north-western Australia, where it is rare.
Habitat. Epiphytic.
[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 369 (2018)]