Ser. Melanospeeme^. Fam. Fmacece. 



Plate CLXIV. 



SCABERIA AGARDHII, Grev. 



Gen. Char. Frond dendroid^ irregularly branched, having stem, leaves, and 

 vesicles as distinct organs, but without receptacles. Leaves peltate, 

 fleshy, warted externally, spirally inserted round the stem. Vesicles 

 formed from an inflated leaf, and inserted as the leaves. Scaphidia 

 immersed in the leaves, beneath the periphery of the outer surface, her- 

 maphrodite. -iS^jwi?* obovoid. Antheridia iniiQdL. — Scaberia {Grev.), 

 from scaler, rough: alluding to the roughly-warted leaves and vesicles. 



I'rons dendroidea, vage ramosa, caulevi, folia, et vesicidas ut organa dlscreta ge- 

 rens, receptacuUs propriis mdlis. Folia peltata, carnosa, externe spimdoso- 

 verrucosa, spirali ordine circa caulem disposita. Vesicula a folio injlato 

 ortce, ut folia insertce. Scaphidia. foliis immersa, infra superficiem pagincB 

 exterioris excavata, hermaphrodita. Spores obovoidecB. Antheridia fasciculata. 



Scaberia Agardhii. 



Scaberia Agardhii, Grev. Syn. p. 36. /. Ag. Sp. Alg. v. \. p. 252. Sond. 

 Preiss. PI. v. 2. p. 159. Harv. in Hook. fil. Fl. Tasm. v. 2. p. 283 ; Alg. 

 Austr. Exsic. w, 31. 



Castraltia salicornioides, A. Rich. N. Zeal. v. 2. p. 143. 



Hab. Below low-water mark, extending to 10-20 fathoms. Common on 



the western and southern shores of Australia, and in Tasmania. 

 Geogr. Distr. Australia. Tasmania. New Zealand. 



Descr. Root discoid. Frond several feet long, irregularly or alternately much 

 branched. The lower part of the stem and of the older branches is de- 

 nuded of leaves, smooth, filiform, as thick as whipcord, flexuous or wavy. 

 The upper portion, and all the younger branches and their subdivisions, 

 are closely imbricated with small, fleshy, densely-warted leaves. These 

 leaves are affixed to slightly excentrical petioles, spirally inserted round the 

 stem ; they are 3-4 lines in diameter, verticaUy compressed, smooth on their 

 inner or lower side, and closely covered with short, wart-hke processes on 

 the upper. The vesicles are spherical, covered like the leaves with warts, 

 3-4 lines in diameter, sessile along the sides of branches or ramuli. Spore- 

 cavities are lodged in the ordinary leaves, under the surface ; they contain 

 spores and tufted antheridia, and open among the bases of the warts. The 

 colour is a very dark brown, becoming rather darker in drying. The sub- 

 stance is rigid and tough, somewhat wiry in the stem ; brittle when dry. 



This is by much the most singular and characteristic of the 



