Tricleocarpa fragilis (L.) Huisman & R.A.Towns.

Scientific Description

Habit and structure. Thallus to 7 cm high, pale pink to grey, lightly calcified, subdichotomously branched; dichotomies 6–11 mm apart; segments slightly rounded at both ends. Branches terete, 1.5–2.0 mm in diameter, glabrous. Cortex with 3 or 4 layers of cells; innermost cells inflated and colourless, grading to smaller pigmented outer cortical cells.

Reproduction. Monoecious or dioecious. Spermatangial cavities 300–350 µm in diameter; spermatangia 6–8 × 4–6 µm. Carpogonial branch basal cell with 4 or 5 small-celled branches; hypogynous cell with 3 or 4 branches of nutritive cells. Cystocarps spherical to slightly flattened, 400–500 µm in diameter. Gonimoblast filaments partially lining pericarp base. Carposporangia 45–65 × 26–40 µm. Paraphyses 3- or 4-celled, projecting from inner face of the pericarp.

Distribution. Occurs from the Dampier Archipelago, W. Aust., probably around northern Australia to Qld.