Ser. Rhodosperme.e. Fara. Spharococcoidea. 



Plate CCXVII. 



SARCOCLADIA OBESA, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond flat, firmly fleshy, thick, multifid, composed of two 

 strata; the medullary stratum sponge-like, formed of short, anasto- 

 mosing cellules, and larger, roundish, granuliferous cells ; the cortical 

 of minute, vertically seriated cellules. Fructification: 1, marginal, 

 hemispherical, umbiKcated conceptacles, containing under a thick pe- 

 ricarp, minute, seriated spores, radiating from a central placenta ; 2, 

 tetraspores ? — Sarcocladia, from aap^jjiesh, and kKuSo^, a branch. 



Frons plana, cartilagineo-carnosa, crassa, multifida, dupUci strata constitnta ; 

 stratum medullare cribroso-spongiosum, e cellulis brevibiis anastomosatiiibus et 

 cellulis major Ibus lacunosis gramdiferis, corticate e cellulis minutis verticaUter 

 seriatis for malum. Fr actus : \, cystocarpia marginalia, elevata, liemisphe- 

 rica, umbilicata, intra pericarpium carnosum sporas minutas injilis e placenta 

 centrali radiantibas seriatas foventia ; tetrasjmrre . . .? 



Sarcocladia ohesa, Harv. 



Sarcocladia obesa, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 550 ; Alg. Austr. 

 Exsic. ?i. 326. 



Hab. Cast ashore at King George's Sound and Rottnest Island, If. H. II. 



and G. Clifton. 

 Geogr. Distr. West and south-west coasts of Australia. 



Descr. Root an expanded, fleshy disc, an inch or more in diameter. Fronds 

 6-8 inches long, and as much in the expansion of the divisions, thick and 

 fleshy, irregularly multifid ; laciniae linear, flattisb, slightly convex on the 

 upper, concave on the lower surface, witli subreflexed rnargins, irreguhirly 

 branched, sometimes digitate, sometimes secundly incised, the divisions 

 wavy, spreading, obtuse. Some specimens are much more decompound 

 than others. Conceptacles marginal, several together, depressed-spherical, 

 constricted at base, deeply umbiUcate at the apex, and at length pierced by 

 a pore ; the pericarp very thick ; the placenta globose, and nearly fiiUng 

 the cavity ; spores minute. The colour is a very dark brownish-purple, be- 

 coming brown, or almost black, in drying. The substance is lirudy fleshy, 

 becoming rigid or horn-like when dry. The plant does not adhere to 

 paper. 



A clumsy-looking Alga, not distantly related both to Groci- 

 laria, from which it differs in habit, and to Curdiaa, with which 

 it more nearly agrees ; but until the tetraspores shall have been 



