24 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Voi XIX, January 1965 
var. sieheri (A. Br.) R.D.W .- — Chcwa mucro- 
nata [var.] Sieheri Braun (1835:52); Ni- 
tella polyglochin var. microcarpa (A. Br.) 
T. F. Allen (1871:9); N. microcarpa var. 
micro giochin (A. Br.) Zaneveld (1940: 
103); N. mucronata subsp. fmcata var. 
microcarpa (A. Br. ) Wood (1962^:18); 
N. fmcata var. sieheri (A. Br.) Wood 
(1963:227). 
Fig. 2 
REFERENCES FOR FIJI: none. 
DESCRIPTION OF FIJI MATERIAL: Plants mo- 
noecious, 15-30 (-more ?) cm high, varying 
considerably in habit from diffuse to strict; spec- 
imens depauperate. Axes moderately stout, 400- 
480 [x in diameter; internodes 1-4 times as long 
as the branchlets. Branchlets, fertile (not known, 
but probably not distinctive); sterile (5-) 6-8 
in a whorl, 0.5-3 cm long, spreading at 40-60° 
angle from axis, irregularly ( 1-) 2 (-3) -furcate 
into (2-) 3 (-5) secondaries, and where pre- 
sent also into 1-3 tertiaries; primaries V 2 -V 3 
(-most) of total branchlet length, secondaries 
tiny in some cases or up to l A of branchlet 
length. Dactyls , sterile , 2-3, generally reduced 
and tiny, 2 -celled, penultimate cell rounded dis- 
tally and wider than base of end cell; dactyls oc- 
casionally not reduced. Heads (not known, prob- 
ably not developed). Gametangia absent (see 
Wood, 1963, for details from comparable Sa- 
moan material). (See Zaneveld, 1940:88, and 
Imahori, 1954: 105 and pi. XXIV, for descrip- 
tions of N. fmcata ( sens, strict. ) ) . 
This species is readily recognizable in Fiji as 
the only ecorticated charad which appears coarse 
and which has branchlets 2 -more times furcate. 
Further, it has tiny 2 -celled abbreviated dactyls. 
These are visible under a hand lens (see C. 
corallina ) . 
As recently noted by the author (Wood, 
1963), the names N. fmcata and var. sieheri 
have priority and thus replace N. mucronata 
and var. microcarpa he had listed (1962*: 17). 
Unfortunately, no useful cytological material 
of this species was found in Fiji; but suitable 
stages were obtained in Western Samoa of a 
strain similar in all observable respects. The 
chromosome count of 18 (Wood, 1963:228) 
was obtained, which agrees with Glllet’s (1959: 
231) report of 18 in European N. mucronata 
( — N. fmcata subsp. mucronata in the present 
writer’s revision). 
Variations among the specimens were con- 
siderable, there being two extremes; but unfor- 
tunately no well-developed fertile material was 
obtained of either variant. A lax example has 
long branchlets up to 3 cm in length, and super- 
ficially resembles a lax N. flexilis in habit (spec, 
a ) . The other extreme is strict, has short branch- 
lets up to 1 cm long, is dark gray green, and is 
long and slender in habit (spec. b). The lax 
variant occurred in a waterfall pool, and the 
strict material occurred in a river. 
HABITATS: Pool below waterfall, in river. 
DISTRIBUTION: In Fiji, collected only on Viti 
Levu ( Naitasiri near Sawani ) . N. fmcata , in the 
broad sense used here, is distributed throughout 
the world, and is known from the western Pacific 
in Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia (Queens- 
land), the Philippine Islands, and Japan. The 
writer also found it in Western Samoa, but not 
in New Caledonia. 
SPECIMENS: VITI LEVU: Naitasiri: (a) R. D. 
Wood and S. Pillay 61-6-26-4 . June 26, 1961. 
In ca. 4 inches of rather turbid water, mud bot- 
tom, small pool on plain below Adi Cakobou 
School, ca. Vs way from lily pools to bridge, 
Sawani, ca. 18 miles N of Suva (rdw 1549, Fig. 
2); — (b) S. Pillay and A . Vualili , Suva 12499. 
July 12, 1961. Abundant in Sawani River [Wai- 
manu R. at Sawani ?], 1 chain below bridge (a 
confusing mixture of glossy specimens of N. 
fmcata and dull specimens of C. corallina, at 
first thought by the writer to be Nitellopsis be- 
cause the furcations of the Nitella resemble the 
long bract-cells of Nitellopsis) ; — ( c ) ibid., Suva 
12500. Abundant in Sawani River [Waimanu R. 
at Sawani ?}, below bridge on N side. 
2. Section Gioallenia R.D.W. 
5. Nitella pseudoflahellata A. Br. in A. Br. & 
Nordst., em. R.D.W. — Nitella pseudofla- 
hellata Braun in Braun and Nordstedt 
(1882:54); em. Wood (1962*:19). 
Figs. 1, 4, 5 
REFERENCES FOR FIJI: Nitella muthnatae 
T.F.A.: T. F. Allen (1887:211), Zaneveld 
(1940:72), Wood (1952:352, nom. tant.), 
Wood and Imahori (1959:178); N. gracilis 
subsp. leptosoma var. mathuatae (T.F.A.) Wood 
