Fig. 145. CHYLOCLADIA OVALIS. 



Colour. Properly dark-red; discolouring green and brown as it grows old. Stems 

 darker than the leaf-like branclilets. 



Siibstance. Stems succulent, but firm and elastic; branchlets tender. 



Character of Frond. Slender, thread-shaped {filiform), solid stems; bearing leaf-like, 

 tubular branchlets; tufted; stems naked below; once or twice forked above. 

 Branchlets leaf-like; more or less narrow-oval; tapering at the base; usually 

 simple, but occasionally contracted as if jointed; clustered, or scattered; often 

 densely crowded. 



Measurement. From 2 to 10 inches long. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Clustered sjjores in globose, unstalked (sessile) 

 capsules; with a wide transparent border; external on the branchlets. 

 2 Tetraspores imbedded in the branchlets. 



Habitat. Southern and western shores of England and Ireland. Western Isles of 

 Scotland. Within tide-marks. Local, therefore rare. 



Dr. Harvey describes it as luxuriant on the west coast of Ireland in the 

 months of April and May, when its colour is good and its delicate branchlets 

 in full perfection. But the plant is short-lived. "Two months later," he says, 

 "its aspect is completely changed; great multitudes of the fronds have perished, 

 and those that remain are faded in colour, with attenuated and more compound 

 ramuli. By the end of August the plant has almost entirely disappeared." 

 Now Lonientaria ovalis, — Agardh's name, not Dr. Harvey's, who considers it a 

 true Chylocladia. 



Fig. 146. CHYLOCLADIA KALIFORMIS. 



Colour. A fugitive pink, or purplish-red; soon changing to greenish-yellow. 

 Suhstance. Soft and somewhat gelatinous. 



Ciiaracter of Frond. Cylindrical; tubular; constricted at intervals into long joints; 

 profusely branched. Stems undivided, tapering to each extremity; the con- 

 tractions at intervals of half an inch or more. Branches, springing from each 

 joint-contraction; opposite, or set all round the stem {;whorled) ; of the same 

 construction as the stem, only slenderer and more regularly contracted; these 

 contractions also furnished with sets of lesser branches and branchlets, all 

 more or less distinctly jointed, and tapering at each end. 



Measurement. From 4 to even 18 inches long. 



Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Clustered spores in globose, unstalked (sessile) 

 capsules, with a transparent border; external on the young branches. 

 2. Tetraspores imbedded in the branchlets. 



Halitat. Southern and western shores of England; west of Scotland; Ireland generally. 

 On rocks, &c. between tide-marks and in deeper water. Not uncommon. 



Now Lomentaria haliformis. Variable in luxuriance and general appearance, 

 but always retaining its characteristic growth, more or less. For varieties see 

 Plate XXX. Fig. 151; and Fig. 153 for another Chylocladia. 



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