Ser, RHODOSPERMEiE. Fam. Sppid'iacecB. 



Plate CLVllI. 

 SPYRIDIA OPPOSITA, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, pinnately decompound, articulated, but gra- 

 dually becoming coated with a layer of small, coloured cellules; 

 branches and ramuli furnished with minute, bristle-shaped, articu- 

 lated ramelli. Cijstocarps terminating short branches, involucrated or 

 naked, containing within a closed, membranous pericarp, numerous 

 nucleoli of oblong spores. Tetraspores formed along the ramelli, ex- 

 ternal, sessile, triangularly parted. — Spyridia [Ilarv.), from airvpi'i, 

 a basket. 



Fronsjilifonnis, pinnatim decomposita, articulata, sendm cellidis mhiuiis cola- 

 ratis corticata ; ramis ramulisque ramelUs articulatis setiformibus ndnutis 

 plus mimis instructis. Cystocarpia ramos breves terminantia, ramellis in- 

 volucrata, v. niida, irdra ptericarpium clausum membranuceum nucleulos plures 

 sporarum oblongarum foventla. Tetrasporce ad genicula ramellorum evo- 

 lufcB, externce, sessiles, triangule divisce. 



Spyridia opposita ; frond bluntly four-angled, decompoundly much- 

 branched, distichous; branches and ramuli closely piunulated with 

 opposite, setaceous, subdistichous ramelli ; ramelli incurved, subulate, 

 acute, not constricted at base, their articulations as long as broad ; 

 cystocarps without involucre. 



S. opposita ; fronde obtuse quadrangulari decomposita 7'amosissima disticha ; ra- 

 mis ramulisque ramellis oppositis subdistichis setaceis crebre pinnidatis ; ra- 

 mellis incurvis subulatis acutis nee basi angustatis ; articulis ramellorum dia- 

 metro eequalibus ; cystocarpiis basi nudis (nee involucratis) . 



Spyridia opposita, Harv. in Hook. fit. Fl. N. Zeal. v. 2. p. 256. Harv. 

 Alg. Austr. Exsic. n. 464. 



Hab. Near Cape Northumberland, Mrs. Eddington. Philip Island, 

 Western Port, W.H.H. Premantle,- G. Clifton. Southport, Tas- 

 mania, C. Stuart. 



Geogr. Distr. Western and southern coasts of Australia. Tasmania. New- 

 Zealand. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Stem once or twice forked near the base, or undi- 

 vided, 4-6 inches long, compresso-quadrangular, with rounded, prominent 

 angles, closely set throughout with alternate, lateral, subhorizontally patent, 

 simple branches. These branches are once or twice distichously pinnate, 

 the pinnae irregularly set, and of very unequal length. Pinnules few and 

 short. The younger part of the stem, and the branches and their divisions, 

 are all closely pectinato-pimiate, with opposite, hair-like, simple ramelli. 



