Seaweeds of the South African South Coast
Order Ceramiales
Family Wrangeliaceae
Pleonosporium Nägeli
Plants filamentous, bushy, usually without much development of prostrate parts. Older axes with or without loose rhizoidal cortication. Branching alternate, without a rigid distinction between indeterminate and determinate laterals; branches distichous or polystichous. Asexual reproduction by means of polysporangia; spermatangial heads cylindrical or cylindro-conical. Carposporophytes with globose gonimolobes and surrounded by varying numbers of involucral filaments. Worldwide, 30 species are currently recognized (Guiry & Guiry 2015).
Note: The widespread species formerly known as Pleonosporium caribaeum (Rosenvinge) R.E. Norris, was transferred to Spongoclonium by Wynne (2005) because it possesses tetrasporangia (sometimes octosporangia) rather than polysporangia. The same character means that Pleonosporium callicladum R.E. Norris should also be transferred to Spongoclonium, but this has not been formally done, so we have left it in the genus Pleonosporium.
Key to the species
|
1a. Sporophyte with tetrasporangia |
Pleonosporium callicladum |
|
1b. Sporophyte with polysporangia |
2 |
|
2a. Ultimate branchlets long and unbranched (apart from reproductive structures) |
Pleonosporium harveyanum |
|
2b. Ultimate branches ramified right to the top |
Pleonosporium filicinum |
References Pleonosporium
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2015. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 04 December 2015.
Wynne, M.J. 2005. A check-list of benthic marine algae of the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic: second revision. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia 129: 1-152.
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 April 2024.