Ser. RnoDOSPERMEiE. Earn. Rhodomelacea. 



Plate CCXXXIX. 



CHONDRIA LANCEOLATA, Haw. 



Gen. Char. Frond filiform, cartilagineous, dendroid, opaque> coated with 

 small, polygonal, irregularly placed cells. Axis articulated, polysi- 

 phonous. Hamuli claveeform, much constricted at their insertion. 

 Fructification: 1, ovate ceramidia ; 3, tripartite tetrasjwres, formed 

 irregularly, in the clavate ramuli. — Chondria {Ag.)i %oi/S/309, car-^ 

 tilage. 



Irons fiUformis, cartilar/inea, dendroidea, opaca, cellnlis irregularihus polygonis 

 corticata. Axis articulatiis, pohjsiphonus. Ramuli clavali, basl constrictl. 

 Fruct.: 1, ceramidia ovaia ; 2, tetrasporce iriangule divisce, hi raniidis im^ 

 mersa, sparsce v. irregidariter aggregatce. 



Chondria lanceolata ; frond of small size (1-2 inches high), compressed^ 

 cartilagineous, alternately branched, nearly distichous ; branches and 

 ramuli alternate, tapering to the base and apex, acute; ceramidia 

 ovate, pedicellate ; tetraspores clustered under the tips of the ramuli. 

 Ch. lanceolata; fronde pusilla (1-2 unciali) compressa carlilaginea alterne ra- 

 mosa suhdisticha ; rainis raimdisque alternis basi et apice attenualis acutis * 

 ceramidiis ovaiis pedicellatis ; tetrasporis sub apicibus ramulorum congestis. 

 Chondria lanceolata, Harv. in Trans. R. I. Acad. v. 22. p. 539. Harv. Alg. 

 F.vsic. Austr. u. 156. 



IIab. On leaves of Zostera marina, at Eottnest Island, W. II. H. 



Geogr. Distr. Western Australia. 



Descr. Root a small disc. Frond one to two inches high, and as much in the 

 expansion of the branches, strongly compressed, nearly distichous, decora- 

 poundly branched. Main stem flexuous ; branches alternate, spreading, once 

 twice or thrice subdivided, tapering to the base and apex; ranmli few, 

 scattered or alternate, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, much contracted at 

 their insertion. Ceramidia broadly ovate, wide-mouthed, pedicellate, mostly 

 on the rarauh. Tetraspores collected in sori, under the tips of the ramuli. 

 The specimens that produce tetraspores are more luxuriant and decompound 

 than those that bear ceramidia. The colour is a dark brown-red, becoming 

 browner in the herbarium. The substance is soft, but not gelatinous, and 

 tolerably firm, not soon decomposing in fresh water ; and in drying the 

 frond adheres closely to paper. 



This is a small species of the sub-section, typified by Ch. Ic- 

 nuissima, in which the ramuli are more or less acute or acumi- 



