Ser. Melanosperme^. Fam. Fucacece. 



Plate CLIIL 



PHYLLOSPORA COMOSA, j^. 



Gen. Char, Root fibrous. Frond pinnately decompound^ witli flat stem 

 and branches, nerveless leaves, and proper vesicles, but without pro- 

 per receptacles. Vesicles stipitate, marginal, simple, leaf-bearing. 

 Scaphidia immersed in unmetamorphosed marginal leaves, dioecious. 

 Sjoores obovoid. — Phyllospora [Ag.), from (f)vWov, a leaf, and 

 (TITO pa, a seed; because the fruit is placed in leafy organs, not in 

 proper receptacles. 



Radix fibrosa. Frons pitinat'mi ramosa, caide ramisque planis, foliis e?tervm 

 vesictdisque donata, receptaculis propriis tudlis. Vesiculas stipitatfB, marcji- 

 nales, sinipUces, foUiferce. Scaphidia in lamina folii non transformata im- 

 mersa, dioica. Sporce obovoidece. 



Phyllospora comosa ; stem flat, smooth, pinnately branched ; leaves mar- 

 ginal, lanceolate-linear, attenuate, distantly toothed ; vesicles ellip- 

 soidal, leaf- bearing. 



P. comosa ; caule piano leevi pinnatim ramoso ; foliis marginalibus lanceolato- 

 linearibus attenuatis subremote dentatis ; vesiculis ellipsoideis foliiferis. 



Phyllospora comosa, Jg. Rev. Macr. p. 311. t. 28./. 11. J. Ag. Sp. Jig. 

 V. 1. p. 253. Kiltz. Sp. Alg. p. 592. Lond. Journ. Bot. v. 4. p. 525. 

 Harv. in II. N. Zeal. v. 2. p. 214. Fl. Tasm. v. 2. p. 283. 



Macrocystis comosa, Ag. Sp. p. 48; Syst.p. 292. Rich. Aslr. N. Zeal. p. 14, 

 etv. 2. JO. 142. 



FucDS comosus, Labill. PI. Nov. Soil. t. 258. Turn. Hist. t. 142. 



Hab. In the Laminarian zone. South and south-east coasts of Australia. 

 Tasmania. 



Geogr. Distr. Australia. New Zealand. 



Descr. Root conico-hemispherical, composed of a large number of short, robust, 

 simple, closely imbricating, obtuse fibres, radiating from a central, concave, 

 margined disc, from the middle of which starts the solitary stem. Frond 

 12-20-30 feet long or more, pinnately decompound. Stem and branches 

 strap-shaped, from quarter to nearly half an inch in breadth, preserving 

 nearly the same width throughout, piano-compressed, two-edged, rather 

 thicker in the middle, very densely beset throughout with irregularly scat- 

 tered or crowded marginal leaves, intermixed with small ciliary processes 

 that may develope into leaves. Leaves 4-6-8 inches long, 1-6 lines wide, 

 tapering to each end, and sometimes much attenuated, either sharply and 



