FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 



221 



Teibe VI. ECTOCABPACBJZ. 



Gen. XXIX. SPHACELAPJA, Lyngb. 



(Lyngb. Hyd. Dan. p. 103. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. i. 29. Sphacelaria, Stypocaulon, et Halopteris, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 



pp. 462-4(58.) 



1. Sphacelaria paniculata, Suhr, Beitr. in Mora, 1840, p. 278. J". Ag. Sp. Alg. v. l.p. 36. S. hor- 

 deacea et S. virgata, Hook. fil. et Harv. in Lond. J. Bot. v. 4<.p. 530. Hook. Ie. PL t. 614. Stypocaulon 

 paniculatum, S. hordeacum, el S. virgatum, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 467. 



Hab. Shores of New Zealand, abundantly. (Native of New Holland.) 



A very variable plant in size, aspect, and ramification ; and also in the appearance of its fructification. We have 

 before us specimens producing the terminal spikelets of spores, as figured in Hook. Ic. PI. t. 614; others which 

 bear favelloid tubercles, filled with obconical spores, also in terminal spikelets ; and lastly, others with dense tufts 

 of grumous cells, crowded in the axils of the uppermost ramuli, but not in terminal spikes. The St. virgata of our 

 former list is a slender variety, with longer, simpler, and more rod-like branches. 



2. Sphacelaria funicularis, Mont., Voy. Pole Sud, t. li.f. 1. Hook.fil. et Harv. in PI. Ant. v. l.p. 

 180. Lond. J. Bot. v. 4. p. 531. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. v. l.p. 38. Stypocaulon funiculare, Kiitz. Sp. Alg. 

 p. 467. 



Hab. Akaroa, Hombron, Lyall. East Coast, Colenso. (Native of Antarctic shores.) 

 We do not always find it easy to distinguish between the present species and some of the shorter and stouter 

 varieties of S. paniculata. 



3. (?) Sphacelaria iotryoclada, Hook. fil. et Harv.; fronde (denudata tantum visa) inarticulata estu- 

 posa vage ramosa v. subdichotoma, ramis flexuosis simplicibus elongatis per totam longitudinem fasciculis 

 ramellorum fertilium densissime obsessis, fasciculis sphsericis quaquaversum egredientibus, ramellis incurvis 

 dichotorne multifldis sporas sessiles laterales ellipticas ferentibus. (Tab. CX. B.) 



Hab. East Coast and Cook's Straits, Lyall. 



Our knowledge of this plant is confined to two specimens, both evidently imperfect, and therefore, notwith- 

 standing its apparently very distinct characters, we have considerable hesitation in proposing it as a new species. In 

 the structure of the stem, which, in our specimens, is devoid of stupose fibres, it accords with Cladoslephus, and 

 the general habit is very like that of C. verticillatus in its winter dress. The spherical tufts of ramelli are altogether 

 peculiar, and are evidently special fructiferous processes ; a fact made obvious by one of our specimens exhibiting at 

 the end of one of its branches ordinary sphacelarioid ramuli ; so like those of S. paniculata, that, preposterous 

 though it may seem, we are not without doubts whether the plant now described be not merely a fourth state of 

 S. paniculata, with another development of spores ! — Plate OX. B. Fig. 1, plant, the natural size ; 2, part of a 

 branch with clusters of sporiferous ramuli; 3, sporiferous ramuli, separated; 4, apex of one of the ramuli; 5, cross 

 section of the stem : — more or less magnified. 



4. Sphacelaria pulvinata, Hook. fil. et Harv. ; parasitica, csespitibus minutis hemisphgericis densis, 

 fllis rigidis arcuatis apice sphacelatis simplicibus v. parum ramulosis, ramulis erectis stepissime secundis, 

 sporis elliptico-oblongis pedicellatis secundis raro oppositis, articulis subtrivenosis diametro sesquilongiori- 

 bus. — Ectocarpus ? pulvinatus, Harv. MSS. in Herb. (Tab. CX. C.) 



Hab. Parasitic on the margin and on the receptacles of Carpophyllum Maschadocarpus, Colenso. 



Filaments a line long, arcuate, simple, forming exceedingly dense, globular tufts. Spores on secund, rarely op- 

 posite pedicels, usually lining the concave side of the filament. When the spore is abortive the pedicel forms a 

 ramulus. Articulations once and a half as long as broad, three- tubed. Colour a foxy-brown. 



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