CRYPTONEMIACEa:. 177 



The longer stem and purple colour of this plant readily 

 distinguish it from the other species of the genus. This 

 species is very common on our coasts. It is perennial, 

 and grows on rocks, etc., between the tide-marks. 



Pliyllopliora palmettoides. The palmetto-like 

 Phyllophora. 



'Root a widely-expanded disc ; stem cylindrical ; frond 

 oblong, simple or forked, proliferous from the tips, of a 

 beautiful rose-red colour. Spores unknown ; tetraspores 

 cruciate or tripartite, in solitary sori, which are immersed 

 in the substance of the frond, near the tip. 



This beautiful little plant, which was formerly con- 

 sidered to be a variety of Phyllophora Brodicei, is found 

 only on our southern shores. It is distinguished by the 

 bright colour of its frond, its more widely-expanded 

 root, and the position of the tetraspores. It grows on 

 rocks near low- water mark in winter and spring, and is 

 perennial. 



Genus LXXVIII. GYMNOGONGRUS. 



T"rond tapering, compressed or flat, linear, forked, the 

 centre cells roundish, those of the surface minute, arranged in 

 closely-packed, vertical, necklace-like filaments. Spores mi- 

 nute, arranged in masses (nucleoli), several of which are asso- 

 ciated together into a conceptacle-like cluster, which is im- 

 mersed in the frond; tetraspores cruciate, formed in necklace- 

 like threads, in external, hemispherical, wart-like excres- 

 cences (nemathecia). — Gtmnogonqetjs, from the Greek 

 gymnos, naked, and goggros, an excrescence on a tree. 



This genus comprises at present some twenty species, 

 which are widely distributed, but two only are natives 

 of Great Britain. 



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