Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Halymeniales

Family Halymeniaceae

Prionitis filiformis Kylin 1941: 13

Plants erect, up to 15 (-20) cm tall, comprising a clump of slender uprights arising from a common crustose holdfast; uprights dark red, greenish or purple, terete, uniformly about 1mm in diameter, sometimes simple but usually dichotomously branched 3-4 times, often with spindle-shaped proliferations up to 3 mm long towards their ends. Medulla of dense filaments, surrounded by inner cortical layer of stellate cells and outer cortical layer of small, pigmented cells. Reproductive structures borne on lateral proliferations.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Recorded from Port Elizabeth to Port Edward (36 – 48). Found on wave-exposed shores where it is epilithic in the lower eulittoral and shallow sublittoral zones.

World distribution: Also found on the west coast of North America (Silva et al. 1996).

Type locality: San Francisco, California (Silva et al. 1996).

 

Prionitis filiformis, Haga Haga.

Prionitis filiformis, Kenton-on-Sea, shown out of the water.

Prionitis filiformis, XS, showing medulla of dense filaments, surrounded by cortical cells.

 

References Prionitis filiformis

Kylin, H. 1941. Californische Rhodophyceen. Lunds Univ. Årsskr., N.F. Avd. 2, 37 (2). 51 pp., 13 figs, 7 pls.

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 20 April 2024.