244 
THE SEAWEEDS 
Asparagopsis armata Harvey. 
Fronds springing from creeping rhizomes, alternately branched, main 
divisions and lesser branches clothed nearly to the base with short penicil- 
late branchlets, and each armed below with two or three long, naked, patent 
Fig. 107 . — Asparagopsis armata: a, plant; b, base 
of one of the penicillate branchlets, 
with a ceramidium and one of the 
pinnules; c, spores. (After Harvey.) 
or arching branchlets, set with alternate reflexed prickles. Svedelius found 
that these serve as a means of vegetative reproduction, and by becoming 
attached to steamers this Australian alga has been carried to the coast of 
France and Algiers, and has grown in the last ten years into extensive 
colonies. Ultimate ramelli very fine, inarticulate. Cystocarps globose, on 
short or long peduncles, generally two or three together near the base of the 
penicillate branchlets. Colour pale or bright purplish-red, sometimes fading 
to yellow. Substance soft and flaccid. 
Southern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand. Collected in South Aus- 
tralia from Encounter Bay, Investigator Strait, Eastern Bays. 
