Ser. RhodospeumejE. Earn. IVrangeliacea. 



Plate XLVI. 



WRANGELIA VELUTINA, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, decompound, articulated, one-tubed; the in- 

 ternodes naked, or coated with minute cellules ; the nodes clothed 

 with opposite or whorled, articulated ramelli. Fructification: 1, ci/s- 

 tocarps terminating short branches, involucrated by the uppermost 

 whorled ramelli, and consisting of tufts of pear-shaped, pedicellate 

 spores and slender paranemata ; 2, naked, triangularly-parted teira- 

 spores, borne on the sides of the whorled ramelli. — Wrangelia {Ag.), 

 in honour of Baron Wrangel, a Swedish naturalist. 



Fronsfiliformis, decou/posita, articnlata, monosiplionia, nnda v. cellulis corticate/, 



verticillis ramellorum ad genicula onusia. Fruct. : 1, cystocarpia ramos ter- 



minantia, ramellis s/ipremis involucrata, fasciculis numerosis sporarum pyri- 



formium pedicel latarum et paranematibus tenuibus constantia ; 2, tetrasporce 



nnda, triangule divisce, ad ramellos sessiles. 



Wrangelia velutina ; frond cartilaginous, inarticulate, diffusely much 

 branched; branches horizontally patent, once or twice compounded, 

 the younger ones densely whorled with minute ramelli ; ramelli dicho- 

 tomo-multifid, with patent axils, mucronate, their articulations 3-4 

 times as long as broad ; cystocarps terminating short lateral branch- 

 lets ; tetraspores on the ramelli. 



W. velutina; cartilaginea, corticata, diffuse ramosissiina ; ramis horizontaliter 

 patentibus v. recurvis plus minus compositis, junioribus densissime ramellis 

 minutis verlicillatis ; ramellis dichotomo-multijidis patentibus rigidiusculis 

 mucronatis, eorum axillis latissimis, articulisque diametro 3—4^-plo longioribus ; 

 cystocarpiis ramos abbreviates laterales terminautibus ; tetrasporis ad ramellos 

 sessilibus. 



Wrangelia velutina, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 546 ; Alg. Exsic. 

 Austr. n. 265. 



Dasya velutina, Sond. in PI. Freiss. v. 2. p. 179. Harv. Ner. Austr. p. 63. 

 t. 23. 



Phlebothamnion velutinum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 659. 



Hab. Cast ashore from deep water. Abundant at Eottnest Island and 

 Fremantle ; rarer at King George's Sound, Western Australia ; also 

 at Port Pairy, W. H. H., and Port Philip, Mrs. Mallard. 



Geogr. Distr. Western and southern coasts of Australia. 



Descr. Root discoid. Fronds tufted, 3-6 inches long, somewhat thicker than 

 hog's-bristle, opaque and corticated throughout, much and very irregularly 



