Sor. Hhodosi'ERMK/E. Fam. Laurenciacea. 



Plate CXCII. 

 ASPARAGOPSIS ARMATA, llarv. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, inarticulate, tliyrsoideo-paniculate ; branches 

 peuicillate, pinuately decompound, the ultimate ramelli setaceous, laxly 

 cellular (not articulate). Fructification : 1, ovate, pedunculate cerami- 

 dia, containing, within a membranous pericarp, a dense tuft of pear- 

 shaped spores ; %,tetraspores . . . /-^Asparagopsis (Mom^.), from «5- 

 jiaragus, the well-known vegetable so called, and o^i<i, a resemblance. 



Frons fiUfo7'inis, inarticulata, filo articiilato monosipkonlo percursa, thyrsoideo- 

 pmucidata. Rami (breves) penicdlati, pinnatim decomposUi et in ramellos 

 seiaceos laxe cellulosos soluti. Fruct. : 1, ceranddia peduncidata, a ramido 

 transformata, intra pericarpium membranaceum poro j)ertusum sjmrarum, 

 fasciculum foventia ; fila sporifera ramosissima. Tetrasporce ignotee. 



AsPAEAGOPSis armata ; stems rising from ultrasetaceous, branching rhi- 

 zomes, erect or climbing, irregularly much branched, clothed with 

 ramelli nearly to the base; branches linear-lanceolate (in outline), 

 virgate, armed at base with 2-3, approximate, naked, retrorsely spi- 

 nous branchlets ; ceramidia globose, on cylindrical peduncles. 



A. armata ; surculo ultrasetaceo parum ramoso repente caules plures emittente ; 

 caulibus erectis v. scandentibus vage ramosissimis per totam fere longitudinem 

 ratnidis ramelUferis onustis ; ramis secundariis virgatis circumscriptione line- 

 ari-lcmceolatis basi scepissime raymdis 2-3 nudis retrorsum aculeatis instructis; 

 ceramidils globosis, pedunculo cylindraceo. 



AsPARAGOPSis armata, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 544 ; Alg. 

 Austr. Exsic. n. 242; Fl. Tasm. v. 2. p. 305. 



AsPARAGOPSis Delilei {excl. syn.), Harv. Ner. Austr. p. 88. t. 35 (not cha- 

 racteristic) ; Fl. Nov. Zel. V. 2. p. 233. 



Hab. Common along the western and southern coasts. Newcastle, New 

 South Wales, JF. II. H. Tasmania, Chinn, etc. 



Geogr. Distr. Australia. Tasmania. New Zealand. 



Descr. Fronds springing from a loosely entangled mat of branching, naked, root- 

 Uke, prostrate or creeping rhizomes, which are as thick or twice as tliiek as 

 hog's-bristle. Stems numerous, 6-12 inches long or more, rarely quite 

 simple, alternately branched or much branched, and often entangled ; both 

 the main divisions and the lesser branches clothed nearly to the base with 

 short, penicillate branchlets, and each also armed below with two or three 

 long, naked, patent or arching branchlets, set with alternate reflexed prickles. 

 The pcnicihatc branchlets are from liaU" an inch to an inch in length, decom- 

 pound-pinnate, all the divisions opposite, and their general outline is ovato- 

 laneeolatc and acute. The ultimate ramelli are of cobwebby fineness, laxly 

 cellular, but not truly articulate. The ceramidia, as large as poppy-sccd, 



