Ser. Rhodosperme^. Fam. Sjjharococcoidea. 



Plate LXXX. 



GRACILARIA DACTYLOIDES, Sond. 



Gen. Chae. Frond filiform, compressed, or flat, cartilaginous, irregularly 

 branched, composed of two strata; the medullary stratum of large, 

 roundish, angular cells, smaller outwards, usually containing granules ; 

 the cortical of minute cellules, vertically seriated or in a single row. 

 Fructification : 1, hemispherical or conoidal conceptacles, sessile on 

 the branches, containing within a thick pericarp obovate sjjores ar- 

 ranged in spore-threads issuing from a basal placenta ; 2, tetraspores 

 cruciate or tripartite, dispersed among the surface-cellules of the 

 branches and ramuli. — Gracilaria {Grev.), hom gracilis, 'slender/ 

 applicable to the filiform species. 



Trans filif or mis, compressa, v. plana, carnoso-cartilaginea, vage ramosa, ex atratis 

 dtiobus contexta. Stratum medullare cellulis magnis rotundato-angulatis, 

 exterioribus senshii minoribus, materie granulosa scepe repletis ; corticate 

 cellulis minimis uni- v. pluri-seriatis. Fruct. : 1, conceptacula Jiemisphm'ica, 

 sessilia, intra pericaypium crassum fila sporifera e placenta basali radiantia 

 foventia ; 3, tetrasporce sparsm, cruciatim divisee. 



Gracilaria dactyloides ; rose-red, flaccid, carnoso- cartilaginous ; frond 

 compressed, subdichotomous or vaguely decompound, with wide 

 angles and spreading branches; branches irregularly multifid, the 

 smaller ones frequently palmatifid ; ramuli secund, subulate, attenu- 

 ate; conceptacles conoidal, secund. 



G. dactyloides ; rosea, flaccida, carnoso-cartilaginea ; fronde compressa sub- 

 dicho'toma v. vage decomposita ; axillis rotundatis ramisque patentibus ; ramia 

 irregulariter multifidis, minoribus sape palmatifidis ; laciniis secutidis subula- 

 tis attenuatis ; cystocarpiis conoideis secundis. 



Gracilahia dactyloides, Sond. Bot. Zeit. 1845, jo. 55. /. Ag. Sp. Alg. v. 2. 

 p. 604. Harv. Alg. Austr. Exsic. n. 331 ; Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 550. 



Plocaria dactyloides, Sond. in PI. Preiss. v. 2. p. 190. 

 Sph^rococcus dactyloides, Kiifz. Sp. Alg. p. 776. 

 Hab. Cast ashore from deep water. Swan Kiver, Preiss. Fremantle, 



W. H. H., G. Clifton. King George's Sound ? 

 Geogr. Distr. Western Australia. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Fronds tufted (often parasitical), from 6-10 inches 

 long, seldom more than a line broad, compressed, irregularly dichotomous 

 or variously multifid, preserving a somewhat flabelliform outline. The 

 main divisions are frequently flattened under the axils and expanded to 



