Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Caulerpales

Family Caulerpaceae

Caulerpa bartoniae G. Murray 1896: 177-178

Plants light to grass-green, 2-5 cm tall. Stolons smooth, cylindrical, bearing erect fronds up to 5 cm tall (usually shorter), with a short cylindrical stipe and narrow (1.5 – 2.5 mm) strap-like blades that are several times dichotomously branched; dichotomies with an angle of 30-60^o. 

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from False Bay (near Cape Point) to the East London area (18-41). Found in rock pools and the shallow subtidal to at least 6 m deep, often forming extensive stands or intermingled in mixed algal turfs.

World distribution: South African endemic.

Type locality: Eastern Cape, South Africa, between Kei and Great Fish River (Silva et al. 1996).

 

Caulerpa bartoniae

Caulerpa bartoniae, fronds ca 4 mm wide

 Caulerpa bartoniae, drawing reproduced from Stegenga et al. (1997).

 

 

References Caulerpa bartoniae

Murray, G. (1896). A new species of Caulerpa. Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 34: 177-178, 1 fig.

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.

Stegenga, H., Bolton, J.J. and R. J. Anderson. 1997. Seaweeds of the South African west coast. Contributions from the Bolus Herbarium 18: 655 pp.

 

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 25 April 2024.