Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Dictyotales

Family Dictyotaceae

Stypopodium multipartitum (Suhr) P.C.Silva in P.C.Silva, Basson & Moe 1996: 611

Plants erect, yellowish-brown with blue iridescence when young, up to about 30 cm tall, comprising one to many fan-shaped blades attached by a matted rhizoidal holdfast. Blades complanate, irregularly split to lacerate in older plants, ca. 300 μm thick near base and ca. 100 μm thick distally; margins smooth, surface smooth when young, fertile blades becoming rugose; concentric rows of hairs creating visible bands. Structure of 4-6 (-9) layers of large medullary cells in cross section 35-75 μm wide x 25-35 μm high; cortex of single layer of cells in cross section 10-16 μm wide x 12-18 μm high. Sporangia in sori on both surfaces of blade, up to 80 μm in diameter and up to 120 μm long, with single stalk cell, each sporangium producing four spores; paraphyses absent. Sexual structures not seen.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from Arniston to northern Kwazulu-Natal (23-58). Found in rock pools, the sublittoral fringe, and subtidally down to 40 m depth.

World distribution: southern African endemic: also known from Mozambique (Tronchin & De Clerck 2005).

Type locality: Algoa Bay (Silva et al. 1996).

Note: This species was previously known as Stypopodium zonale (Lamouroux) Papenfuss.

 

Stypopodium multipartitum.

Stypopodium multipartitum underwater, showing bluish iridescence (Transkei).

 

References Stypopodium

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.

Tronchin, E. M., & De Clerck, O. 2005. Brown Algae. In: De Clerck, O., J.J.Bolton, R. J. Anderson and E. Coppejans, 2005. Guide to the Seaweeds of Kwazulu-Natal. National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Brussels (Scripta Botanica Belgica), pp. 96-129.

 

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 26 April 2024.