ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF HaUmeda 

 Halimeda velasquezii W. R. Taylor 



117 



Figure 32. 



Halimeda velasquezii W. R. Taylor (1962), p. 176, Figs 8-14. 

 Halimeda opuntia f. intermedia Yamada (1934), p. 81, Figs 50, 51. 



Plants compact, to 7 cm tall, from a very small stupose base; branching 

 producing a flat (plane) thallus; the lower one to four segments small, 



Fig. 32. H. velasquezii. Specimen from Ryuku Island, Waha, Yamada V-1933 = holo- 

 type of opuntia f. intennedia. Scale bar is 2 cm. (Photograph by The Ohio State 

 University Department of Photography.) 



subterete or compressed, other segments transversely oval to reniform, to 

 6 mm long, 11 mm broad, the margins entire, surface often glossy, sometimes 

 with a faint trace of a midrib. 



Cortex of three or more series of utricles formed by dichotomies of the 

 lateral branches of the medullary filaments and hence not particularly 

 utriculiform ; outermost utricles adhering only slightly and sometimes 

 separating after decalcification, in surface view round or somewhat com- 

 pressed, a distinct covering lamella usually present which parts in a polygonal 

 pattern when slight pressure is applied to the utricles; 9-22 [im. in surface 

 diameter, 15-34 [jim long in section; secondary utricles 8'5-15(-22) [im. 

 broad. 



