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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. The Herbarium team, working with the Biodiversity Information Office, now have the Nomos-hosted WACensus in production, and we will begin to update the flora and fungi for WA within the system soon. The Specify project team continues to test and streamline the new collections management system, and we expect this to be online in October. 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 Thursday, 1 October 2026 +08:00.

Heterosiphonia crispella (C.Agardh) M.J.Wynne var. crispella

Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus erect, to 10 mm tall, attached by rhizoidal filaments from lower cells, with 1–3 percurrent primary axes arising near the base. Primary axes polysiphonous, ecorticate, with 6 pericentral cells, these slightly offset in successive segments; branching distichous with pseudolaterals arising every 2 segments. Polysiphonous segments to 80 µm diam. near the thallus apex [L:B c. 1], broadening to 220 µm near the base [L:B c. 0.6]. Pseudolateral branches to 1.2 mm long, curved towards the apex, monosiphonous except for basal and often suprabasal polysiphonous segments (these with 4 pericentral cells), dichotomously divided every 2 cells; lower cells 50–65 µm diam., tapering gradually to outer cells 35–40 µm; apical cells 18–25 µm diam., pointed but without a spine.

Reproduction. Reproductive structures not seen.

Distribution. Widespread in tropical seas; epiphytic and epilithic in the subtidal.

[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 435 (2018)]