Ser. Khodosperme^. Fam. Wrangeliacece. 



Plate CV. 



WRANGELIA NITELLA, ^«r. 



Gen. Chak. Frond filiform, decompound, articulated, one-tubed ; the iyiter- 

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

 opposite or whorled articulated ramelli. Fructification: 1, cystocarps 

 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 tetraspores, borne 

 on the sides of the whorled ramelli. — Wrangelia [Ag.), in honour 

 of Baron Wrangel, a Swedish naturalist. 



Fronsjiliformis, decomposita, artlcidata, monosipho7iia, nuda v, cellidis corticata^ 

 verticilUs ramelloriim ad genicida onusta. Fruct. : 1, cystocarpia ramos 

 terminantia, ramellls supremis involucrata, fasciculis niimerosis sporarum 

 pyriform'mm pedicellatarum et paranematlbus teimibus constantia ; 2, tetra- 

 sporce nudce, triangule divlsce, ad ramellos sessiles. 



Wrangelia nitella; frond membranaceous, flaccid, pellucidly jointed 

 throughout (the joints 4-6 times as long as broad), decompound- 

 pinnate ; branches and brauchlets mostly opposite, distichous, with 

 whorled ramelli at the nodes ; ramelli di-trichotomously multifid, the 

 divisions patent, very acute ; tetraspores globose, sessile on the ra- 

 melli. 



W. nitella ; fronde memhranacea faccida e basi articulata (articulis diametro 

 'i-Q-plo loiigioribusj ecoi'ticata decomposite plnnata ; ramis ramulisque scsplus 

 oppositis distlchis ad getiicida verticillathn rameUos/s ; ramellls di-tricJiotome 

 multifidis, divisui'is pateriiibus acutissimis ; tetrasporis globosis ad ramellos 

 sessilihus ; cystocarpiis ignotis. 



Wrangelia nitella, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 546 ; Earv. Alg. 

 Austr. Exsic. n. 258. 



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



Geogr. Distr. Western Austraha. 



Descr. Root fibrous, creeping. Fronds 2-4 inches long, capillary or subseta- 

 ceous, pinnately or l)ipinnately compounded, articulated throughout, with 

 pellucid dissepiments and internodes. Pinna and 2nnnules opposite, or by 

 abortion alternate, frequently alternately unequal, subhorizontally patent, 

 long and short intermixed : these articulations 4-6 times as long as broad, 

 or longer. At each node is a whorl of minute, very much branched ramelli, 

 i-i line long, dichotomous, with wide axils ; their articulations one and 

 a half to twice as long as broad, the terminal cell sharply subulate. Tetra- 

 spores spherical, frequently opposite, sessile on the sides of the ramelli. Colour 



