Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

Order Gelidiales

 

Family Gelidiaceae

 

Pterocladiella Santelices et Hommersand 1997

 

Small, dioecious or monoecious plants with holdfast of entangled stolons bearing distichously branched axes; axes flattened distally, branching one to several orders, alternate to irregular or regular to pinnate; cortex of 3-4 layers, medulla of thick-walled cells, rhizoidal filaments in medulla or cortex. Cystocarps arising from one side of the cystocarp floor, with chains of carposporangia radiating outwards; in cross –section, showing an almost triangular cavity and radial rows of carposrporqangia. Tetrasporangial sori elongate and either scattered over branches or restricted to terminal branches.

 

Contains 8 small species, mainly in tropical and subtropical areas (Santelices 1998).

 

Key to species

 

1a. Upright axes to 30 mm long and 1 mm wide, unbranched or sparsely, irregularly    branched	Pterocladiella caespitosa
1b. Upright axes to 4 mm long, 100-400 µm wide, branchlets arising in pairs or whorls of up to 6	Pterocladiella caloglossoides

 

References Pterocladiella

 

Santelices, B. 1998. Taxonomic review of the species of Pterocladia (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta). Journal of Applied Phycology 10: 237-252.

Santelices, B. and MH Hommersand 1997. Pterocladiella, a new genus in the Gelidiaceae (Gelidiales, Rhodophyta). Phycologia 36: 114-119.

 

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.