Ser. Ehodosperme^. Fam. lihodomelacece. 



Plate CII. 



CHONDRIA VERTICILLATA, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, cartilaginous, dendroid, opaque, coated with 

 small, polygonal, irregularly placed cells. Axis articulated, polysi- 

 phonous. Ranmli clavseform, much constricted at their insertion. 

 Fructification : 1, ovate ceramidia ; 2, tripartite tetrasjoores, formed 

 irregularly, in the clavate ramuli. — Chondria {Ag.), ')(ovhpo<i, car- 

 tilage. 



Frons filiformis, cartilaginea, dmdroidea, opaca, cellulis irregidarihus polygonis 

 corticata. Axis ai'ticidatns, polysiphonus. Ranmli clavati, basi constricti. 

 Fruct. : \, ceramidia ovata ; 2, tetrasjwrce triangide divisce, in raimdis im- 

 mersce, sparsce v. irregidariter aggregate. 



Chondria verticillata ; dark brownish-purple ; frond succulent, terete, 

 twice or thrice umbellately decompound ; the branches virgate, 

 whorled at short intervals with linear-oblong, very obtuse, fascicu- 

 late, juicy ramuli ; conceptacles ovate, sessile ; the tetraspores scat- 

 tered. 



Ch. verticillata ; hadia v. fusco-ptcrpurea ; fronde tereti succosa bis terve um- 

 bellatim composita ; rands virgatis ; ramnlis c?'eberrimis fasciculato-verticil- 

 latis linear i-oblong is obtusls succo repletis basi maxinie constrictis ; ceramidiis 

 ovatis sessdibus ; tetrasporis sparsis. 



Chondria verticillata, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 539 ; Alg. 

 Aastr. Fxsic. n. 162. 



Hab. Rottnest Island, W. H. H. Garden Island, G. Clifton. George- 

 town, Tasmania, Rev. I. Fereday. Port Fairy, Victoria, //'. H. H. 

 Geogr. Distr. Western and southern coasts of Australia. Tasmania. 



Descr. Root small, discoid. Stems densely tufted, 3-5 inches long, nearly a 

 line in diameter, simple or umbellately compounded, each partial umbel of 

 4-5 or more rays, round whose bases a whorl of fascicled ramuli are fre- 

 quently developed. The secondary branches, or rays of the umbel, are 

 long and virgate, simple, or umbellately compounded, and are either 

 whorled at short intervals with simple, club-shaped or linear-oblong ramuli, 

 or are closely beset throughout with such ramuli. In the latter case the 

 whorls are very irregular, or the ramuli are emitted from all sides without 

 obvious order. Ramidi \-\ inch long, nearly 1 line in diameter, strongly 

 constricted at base, very obtuse, patent. Ceramidia ovate, sessile on the 

 ramuli. Tetraspores either scattered or brought together in an irregular 

 sorus near the middle of the ramulus. Colour a dull purplish-brown, be- 

 coming darker in drying ; rarely a more vivid purple. Substance succulent 



