Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Ectocarpales

Family Chordariaceae

Stilophora flanaganii Kylin 1940: 53, pl. 8: fig. 21

Plants brown to yellowish-brown, comprising soft, entangled, irregularly branched cylindrical to flattened thalli up to about 25 cm long. Axes to 2 mm thick, tapering distally, growing tips with profuse assimilatory filaments that often extend beyond apices. Medulla of 4-5 longitudinal axial filaments, separating in older thalli to form central hollow. Cortex of several cells thick, with outer layer of small cells. Sori scattered over surfaces of axes, comprising unilocular sporangia, paraphyses and hairs. Pluriocular sporangia unknown.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from certain estuaries in the Eastern Cape (e.g. Haga Haga, Kleinemonde) (42-43). Usually epiphytic on, or tangled among salt-marsh plants.

World distribution: South African endemic.

Type locality; Haga Haga estuary mouth, Eastern Cape, South Africa (Silva et al. 1996).

Note: According to Silva et al. (1996) this entity was previously misidentified as Stilophora rhizodes.

 

Stilophora flanaganii, type specimen, BOL.

Stilophora flanaganii, herbarium specimen from Kleinemonde Estuary.

Stilophora flanaganii, surface of branchlet with sori of unilocular sporangia.

Stilophora flanaganii, tip of branchlet with assimilatory filaments.

Stilophora flanaganii, xs of outer layer.

Stilophora flanaganii, xs through branchlet, with sorus of unilocular sporangia.

Stilophora flanaganii, surface cells.

 

References Stilophora

Kylin, H. 1940. Die Phaeophyceenordnung Chordariales. Acta Universitatis Lundensis 36(9): 1-67, 30 figs.

Silva, P.C., Basson, P.W. & Moe, R.L. (1996). Catalogue of the benthic marine algae of the Indian Ocean. University of California Publications in Botany 79: 1-1259.

 

Cite this record as:

Anderson RJ, Stegenga H, Bolton JJ. 2016. Seaweeds of the South African South Coast.
World Wide Web electronic publication, University of Cape Town, http://southafrseaweeds.uct.ac.za; Accessed on 19 December 2024.