Ser. llHODOSPERMEiE. Fain, lihodomelacea. 



Plate CXXL 



SARCOMENIA DELESSERIOIDES, Sond. 



Gen. Char. Frond flat and midribbed, or compressed, or terete, inarticu- 

 late, pinnately decompound or proliferous, carnoso-membranaceous, 

 composed of two strata of cells; the inner stratum of oblong, thick- 

 walled, gelatinous cells, in several rows ; the outer of a single row of 

 minute, coloured, vertical cellules. Fructification : 1, pedicellate, 

 thick-walled ceramidia, containing a tuft of branching spore-threads, 

 bearing pyriform spores ; 2, lanceolate sticJudia, containing tripartite 

 tetraspores in a single or double row. — Sarcomenia {Sond.), from 

 aap^jfiesh, and v/iT^y, a membrane. 



Frons plana, costata ; v. compressa ; v. teres ; coutinua, pinnatim decomposita 

 V. e disco proUfera, straits diiobus contexta ; strata medullar'i ex cellidis mcifj- 

 nis odlor/ffis f/ellneis crassis, perip/ierico ex cellulis iuinutls coloratis serie slm- 

 plici dlspositis verticalibus evoluto. Fruct. : 1, ceramidia pedicellata intra 

 pericarpium crassmri ostiolo pertusnm sporas pyriformes infdis ramosis termi- 

 nates foventia ; 2, sticJudia lanceolata tetrasporas triangule divisas md-biseri- 

 atas continentia. 



Sarcomenia delesserioides ; frond flat, midribbed, lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate, proliferously pinnate, decompound; pinnae and pinnules 

 opposite, springing from within the margin of the frond, attenuate 

 at each end ; ceramidia globose, stichidia lanceolate, simple or com- 

 pound, both scattered over the frond. 



S. delesserioides ; //•o?2& />Z«raa costata lanceolata v. Uneari-lanceolata proli/ere 

 pinnatim-decomposita ; pinnis pinnidisque oppositis e disco enatis basi et apice 

 attenuatis ; ceramidiis globosis sticliidiisque lanceolatis simplicibus v. compo- 

 sitis per totam frondem dispersis. 



Sarcomenia delesserioides, Sond. Bot. Zeit. 1845, |;. 56. PI. Preiss. v. 2. 

 p. 194. Harv. Alg. Exsic. Aiistr. n. 141 ; hut not Han. Ner. Austr. p. 21. 

 Mtz. Sp. Alg. p. 880. Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 537. 



Var. a. latifolia ; pJiyllodils lato-lanceolatis. Harv. Trans. It. I. Acad. I. c. 



Var. /3. \i\.nG\io\\?L; phyllodiis linear i-lanceolatis. Harv. I. c. 



Var. y. cirrhosa ; phyllodiis angustissimis, supremis scepius cirrhiferis. 

 Harv. I. c. 



Hab. Swan River, Preiss. Abundant at Garden Island, near Tre- 

 mantle; the three varieties, W.ILIL, G. Clifton. At Shortlands 

 Bluff, Port Pliillip, rare, JF. 11. IL 



Geogr. Distr. Western and southern coasts of Australia. 



Descr. Root a disc throwing out branching fibres. Fronds tufted, 1-3 feet 

 long, originating in an undivided, lanceolate pkyllodium, inches to 1-2 



