Ser. RHopOSPERMES. Fam. Rhodomelee. 
Prats CLXXVII. 
GRACILARIA ERECTA, Grev. 
Gen. Cuar. Frond filiform, or rarely flat, carnoso-cartilagimous, continuous, 
cellular ; the central cells very large, empty or full of granular matter; 
those of the surface minute, forming densely packed, vertical filaments. 
Fructification of two kinds on distinct individuals ; 1, convex tubercles 
(coccidia) having a thick pericarp composed of radiating filaments, 
containing a mass of minute spores on a central placenta; 2, ¢etra- 
spores imbedded in the cells of the surface. 
GRACILARIA erecta; fronds numerous from a common disk, short, erect, 
cylindrical, sparingly dichotomous; branches subsimple; tubercles 
globose, clustered ; tetraspores contained in terminal, lanceolate, pod- 
like ramuli. 
GRACILARIA erecta, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 124. t. 14. 
PLocarta erecta, Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 51. 
Gicartina erecta, Hook. Br. Fl. vol. i. p. 300. Wyatt, Alg. Danm. no. 115. 
Harv. Man. p.357. Harv. in Mack. Fl. Hib. part 3. p. 200. 
SpH#Rococcus (°?) erectus, Grev. Crypt. t. 357. 
Has. On sand-covered rocks near low-water mark; also in 4—5 fathom 
water. Perennial. Fruiting in winter. Very rare. Sidmouth and 
Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Belfast Bay, Mr. W. Thompson. Port Bal- 
lantrae, Mr. D. Moore. Roundstone, Mr. Me Calla. Orkney, Rev. 
J. H. Pollexfen, Ineut. Thomas, and Dr. Me Bain. 
Geoar. Distr. Coast of France. 
Descr. Root a flat, thin disk, spreading on the rock. yonds numerous from 
the same base, from two to four inches high, seldom so much, cylindrical, 
filiform, erect, twice as thick as hog’s bristle, irregularly branched ; some- 
times simple for their greater length, forked at the apex; sometimes twice 
or thrice forked ; sometimes furnished with a few lateral branches. Branches 
mostly simple, long, naked, often flexuous, tapering to a fine point. 
Tubercles spherical, very prominent, densely clustered on the branches, 
often near the tips, containing, under a thick, cellular coating, a large cen- 
tral mass of minute spores. Tefvaspores contained in lanceolate, terminal 
pods or swollen ramuli, which are mostly in pairs; oblong, transversely 
parted. _ Colour a more or less deep red, becoming darker in drying. Swd- 
stance cartilaginous, somewhat rigid. It does not adhere, or but very im- 
perfectly, to paper in drying. 
A curious and elegant little plant, scarcely known out of 
England, and one of the discoveries of Mrs. Griffiths, to whom 
it has long been familiar under the manuscript name suffocatus; 
