- Reference
- F.Schmitz & Falkenberg, Nat.Pflanzenfam. [Engler & Prantl] I(2):435 (1897)
- Conservation Code
- Not threatened
- Naturalised Status
- Native to Western Australia
- Name Status
- Current
Scientific Description
Habit and structure. Thallus erect, dark brown-red, to 10 cm tall (holdfast not collected), profusely branched radially, often with axillary branches. Axes terete; primary axes 1.0–1.5 mm diam., tapering to 0.5 mm diam. below apices, with distinct constrictions at branch bases; lateral branches slightly curved upwards; apices rounded or tapering to a fine point, with obvious trichoblasts. Axes in surface view appearing tiered due to very large pericentral cells and the relatively thin cortex. Structure polysiphonous, with 5 large pericentrals, these prominent throughout the thallus, covered by a cortex of markedly smaller cells.
Reproduction. Tetrasporangia in stichidia in axils of lateral branches, spherical, 160–210 µm diam., tetrahedrally divided. Other reproduction not observed.
Distribution. Known from southern Australia north to Barrow Island, north-western Australia.
Habitat. Epilithic in the subtidal.
[After J.M. Huisman in Algae of Australia: Marine Benthic Algae of North-western Australia, 2. Red Algae: 500–502 (2018)]
Distribution
- IBRA Regions
- Swan Coastal Plain, Warren.
- IBRA Subregions
- Perth, Warren.
- IMCRA Regions
- Central West Coast, Leeuwin-Naturaliste, Pilbara (nearshore), Pilbara (offshore), WA South Coast.
- Local Government Areas (LGAs)
- Ashburton, Augusta Margaret River, Bunbury, Busselton, Coorow, Dandaragan, Esperance, Irwin, Karratha, Mandurah, Manjimup.