Ser. HiiODOsPKUAtE.E. Fam. Wrangeliacece. 



Plate CCXXXIIL 



WRANGELIA WATTSII, liarv. 



G EN. Char. Frond filiform, decompound, articulated, one-tubed ; the inter- 

 nodes naked or coated with minute cellules ; the nodes clothed with 

 opposite or whorled articulated ramelli. Fructification : 1, cyslocarps 

 terminating short branches, involucrated by the uppermost whorled 

 ramelli, and consisting of tufts of pear-shaped pedicellate spores and 

 slender paranemata ; 2, naked, triangularly parted tetraspores, borne 

 on the sides of the whorled rameUi. — Wrangelia [Ag.), in honour 

 of Baron v. Wrangel, a Swedish naturalist. 



Frons fiUformis, decomposita, articidata, monosiphonia, nuda v. celluUs corticatn, 

 verticUlis ramellorum ad genicula oiinsta. Fruct.: 1, cgstocarpia ramos ter- 

 minantla, raiiiellis snpremis involticrata, fascicuUs numerosis sporaruvi pyri- 

 formiiim pedkellutarum et paranematihm tenuibus constantla ; 2, idrmporcB 

 nudee, triangule divisce, ad raniellos sessiles. 



Wrangelia JFaitsii ; frond rigid, pellucidly articulate from the base, irre- 

 gularly branched, subdichotomous ; stem and main branches clothed 

 with deflexed or decurrent root-like filaments, springing from the 

 nodes, and also whorled with pinnate or subsimple erecto-patent ra- 

 melli ; articulations of the ramelli 3-4 times as long as broad ; apices 

 obtuse; cell-margin very narrow. 



W. Wattsii ; fronde rigidiuscula e basl pellucide articulata vage ramosa subdl- 

 chotoma ; caiile ramisque majoribus fills deflexis v. deciirreniibus e nodis ena- 

 tis dense vestitls, et ad gcnlcnla verticillatim ramellosis ; ramelUs pinnatis 

 V. simpliclusculis erecto-patentlbus ; articidis ramellorum diametro S-i-plo 

 longiuribus, apicibus obtusis ; niarg'me angustissimo. 



Wrangelia Wattsii, Harv. in Herb. T. C. T>. 



Hab. Cast ashore at Warnamboul, Victoria, //. Watts, Esq^., n. 85, 8S, 

 124, 134. 



Geogr. Distr. South coast of Australia. 



Descr. Root clothed with fibres. Frond 3-6 inches long, irregularly branched, 

 sometimes subpinnate, sometimes subdichotomous ; branches erect or erecto- 

 patent, virgate, subsimple. In the young parts of the fronds the branches 

 are, at each articulation, whorled with 4-5 ramelli or set with a pair of 

 opposite rarauli, and the internode, consisting of a single cell, is quite bare ; 

 but in all the older parts of the frond and in all parts of full-grown fronds, 

 besides the whorled or opposite rameUi, the nodes emit numerous, root-like, 

 flexuous fibres, which take a downward direction along the branch, and, 

 extending from node to node, become interwoven into a fibrous sheath, that 

 completely conceals (but does not adhere to) the joints of the branch. Thus 



