Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Peyssonneliales

Family Peyssonneliaceae

Peyssonnelia replicata Kützing 1847: 775

Plants dark red to blackish, erect, complanate, branched, up to 10 cm tall; conical rhizoidal holdfast bearing short stipe and number of branching, flat axes with inrolled margins that may meet; branch segments 1.5-3 mm wide, broadening distally (to 5 mm or more) near rounded apices; ventral surface felty, uncalcified. In radial vertical section basal cells each bearing one multicellular rhizoid, rhizoids first growing parallel to ventral surface then curving downwards at right angles to it. Ascending filaments arising at about 45^o to basal cell layer, curving slightly towards dorsal thallus surface; calcification absent. Reproductive structures not found.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Found from Port Alfred to St Lucia in Kwazulu-Natal (39-55). Epilithic, from eulittoral fringe to at least 35 m depth, often on rock near sand.

World distribution: South African endemic.

Type locality: Durban (Kützing 1847: 775).

 

Peyssonnelia replicata, sublittoral, Port Alfred (pressed specimen, BOL).

 

References Peyssonnelia replicata

Kützing, F. T. 1847. Diagnosen und Bemerkungen zu neuen oder kritischen Algen. Bot. Zeit. 5: 1-5, 22-25, 33-38, 52-55, 164-167, 177-180, 193-198, 219-223.

 

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.