Vol. 27 



No. 6 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



JUNE 1900 



Three new Charas from California 



1-5 y T. F. Allen 



(With Plates 10-15) 



Chara Hornemanni Nordhoffiae 



Enchara : haplostephana bistipiilata diplosticha dioica major. 



Plant large, branched, growing to greatest perfection in deeper 

 water, 25-30 cm. long : in shallower water becoming stouter 

 but shorter and more condensed. Stem usually elongated, 2—3 

 mm. in diameter, covered with acutely pointed spines, whose 

 length is 2-3 times the diameter of the stem ; diameter of the 

 spines 160 fi : cortex of the stem "diplosticha," the cortex tubes 

 uneven, the primary series more prominent, but not larger ; the 

 tubes of the secondary series unite obliquely. (In the type species 

 Chara Hornemanni Wallm., the cortex tubes are much more regu- 

 lar and uniform in size.) Spines scattered, isolated, cylindrical in 

 form, in length more than double the diameter of the stem, about 

 160/i in diameter ; in younger internodes, these spines are much 

 shorter, often even triangular in shape : verticils somewhat re- 

 mote, the internodes about equal the length of the leaves ; the 

 verticils consist of about 9 leaves : leaves spreading or partly 



6-8 



*=> 



sisting of 4 or 5 nodes : stipules subtending the verticils, ar- 

 ranged in a single series of cells , double the number of the leaves ; 

 stipule cells well developed, attaining a length of 15-20 mm., 

 very similar in form and size to the spines, though a trifle stouter 

 (25 fi in diameter). 



The stiffly spreading stipules in the growing plant give a pe- 

 culiar appearance, which prominently distinguishes the plant from 

 all other adjoining vegetation, by the stiff " beard M about the stem, 

 beneath the verticils of leaves. 



[Issued 25 June.] ( 299 ) 



