Ser. Rhodosperme^. Fam. Rhodomelacea. 



Plate CLIV. 

 POLYSIPHONIA CLADOSTEPHUS, Mont. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, partially or generally articulate ; the joints lon- 

 gitudinally striate, composed of numerous cylindrical cells surrounding 

 a central cell (sometimes coated with one or several rows of smaller 

 cells). Fructification: \, ovate or urceolate ceramidia, containing 

 a tuft of pear-shaped spores j 2, tetraspores immersed in swollen 

 branches. — Polysiphonia {Grev.), from 7ro\v<i, many, and aicfxov, 

 a tube. 



Frons fiUforniis, plus minus artictdata ; articulis longitiidinaliter pluristriatis, 

 ex celluUs 4-20 cyl'mdraceis cellulani centralem cingentlbm formatis (nunc 

 cellulis minoribus pluriseriatis corticatis). Fruct. : 1, ceramidia; 2, tetra- 

 sporcB in ramulis uUimis uniseriatce. 



Polysiphonia Cladostephus ; brownish-purple, flaccid; frond setaceous, 

 elongate, alternately much branched; larger branches decompound, 

 smaller erect, subsimple, all clothed with dichotomous, byssoid, 

 whorled, monosiphonous ramelli; articulations of the branches seven- 

 tubed, 2-4 times longer than broad, the upper shorter; ceramidia 

 ovate, sessile ; tetraspores uniseriate, in distorted branchlets. 



P. Cladostephus ; fusco-piirpurea, flaccida ; fronde setacea elongata alterne ra- 

 mosissima ; ramis majoribus deconipositis, minoribus erectis longe sitiiplicibus, 

 omnibus ramellis dichotomis byssoideis verlicillatis monosiphoniis vestitis ; arti- 

 culis ramorum l-siphoniis diametro 2-4-plo longioribus, superioribus sensim 

 brevioribus, ceramidiis ovatis sessilibus, tetrasporis in ramulis distortis nni- 

 seriatis. 



Polysiphonia Cladostephus, Mont. Voy. Pol. Sud, v. \. p. 133. t. 13./. 

 4 a. Harv. Ner. Austr.p. 45 ; Alg. Austr. Exsic. n. 199. Harv. in Hook. 

 Fl. N. Zeal. V. 2. p. 232; Fl. Tasm. v. 2. p. 301. 



Polysiphonia byssoclados, Harv. in Lond. Journ. v. 3. p. 436. 



Cladostephus australis, Ag. Syst. p. 169. 



GRirriTHSiA austrahs, Ay. Sp. Alg. v. 2. p. 135. 



BiNDERA Cladostephus, Bene. 

 Hab. Common on the western and southern coasts of Australia, and in 



Tasmania, various collectors. 

 Geogr. Distr. Lord Auckland's Island, New Zealand. 



Descr. Root discoid. Fronds densely tufted, 6-12 inches long or more, as 

 thick as hog's-bristle, pellucidly articulate throughout, excessively branched, 



