Ser. RHODOSPERMEiE. Pam. Bhodymeniacea. 



Plate CLII. 



RHABDONIA DENDROIDES, Barv. 



Gen. Char, i^yo^f/ filiform, decompound, imperfectly tubular; tube partly 

 filled with longitudinal, branching and anastomosing filaments ; peri- 

 pheric stratum composed of polygonal cellules, smaller toward the cir- 

 cumference. Fructijication : 1, <?owc(?^^ac/(?5 immersed in the branches, 

 suspended among the axial filaments and enclosed in a network of fila- 

 ments, containing moniliform strings of spores, radiating from a cen- 

 tral placenta; 2, zonate tetraspores dispersed through the superficial 

 stratum. — Rhabdonia {Harv.), from pa^Bo<;, a twig ; in allusion to 

 the twiggy ramification of the species. 



Fronsfilifoi'tnis, decomposite ramosa, tubulosa ; tuho Jilis longitudinalibiis ramosis 

 anastomosantibus percurso ; strata peripheiico ex celluUs angulatis swperficiein 

 verms minoribus contexto. Fruct. : 1, cgstocarpia infra stratuin periphericum 

 siispensa, reticido filornm velata, carpostomio demum aperta, jila sporifera 

 moniliformia a placenta centrali emissa continentia ; 2, tetrasporce zonatim 

 divisa,per ramos minores spars(e, immersce. 



Rhabdonia dendroides ; frond full-red, dendroid ; stem elongate, robust, 

 corneo-cartilaginous, rigid, decompound; lesser branches densely fas- 

 ciculato-corymbose and subfastigiate at the extremity ; ramuli taper- 

 pointed, acute, not constricted at base ; conceptacles immersed in the 

 ramuli. 



E. dendroides; //•o«(/e rubra dendroidea, caule elongate robusto corneo-cartilagineo 

 rigido decomposite, ramis minoribus apice densissime fasciculato-corymbesis 

 subfastigatis, ramulis attenuatis acutis basi non constrictis, conceptacuUs ramu- 

 lis immersis. 



Ehabdonia dendroides, Rarv. in Herb. T.C.D. 



Hab. Western Port, W\ H. H. Cape Shank, Mrs. Barker. Garden Island, 



Western Australia, G. Clifton. 

 Geogr. Distr. Bass's Straits, Western Australia. 



Descr. Root much branched, rigid, the fibres clasping. Stem several inches 

 long, 1^-2 lines in diameter, very rigid and opaque, simple below, variously 

 divided upwards and breaking up finally into numerous cartilaginous, rather 

 rigid branches. These are either long or short, subsimple or decompound, 

 and are more or less furnished with short secondary branches which are very 

 densely multiplied, and sometimes form broora-like tufts at the ends. The 

 outline of these minor branches is often definite and subfastigiate. The ra- 

 muli are terete, tapering at the npex, but not at the base. Cystocarps, of at 

 least twice the diameter of the part where they occur, are immersed in the 

 ramuli ; they contain within the thick walls of the frond a large nucleus, 



