Seaweeds of the South African South Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Order Rhodymeniales

Family Rhodymeniaceae

Rhodymenia holmesii Ardissone 1893: 682

Plants bright red, up to about 4 cm tall; extensive holdfast system of irregularly branched terete stolons bearing erect blades with short stipes; blades up to 3 cm long, narrowly cuneate at base, subdichotomously branched, often fan-shaped; blades from 1.5 to 5 mm wide, thickness from less than 100 µm at margins to more than 200 µm in centre. Structure of 3-4 layered medulla of large cells (to 60 µm diameter) surrounded by cortex of smaller cells; outer cortical cells 3-5 µm in diameter. No reproductive structures found.

Collections, ecology and regional distribution

Collected from the Cape Peninsula to Tsitiskamma National Park. (17-32).Found in the eulittoral fringe and sublittoral zone to at least 24m depth.

World distribution: also recorded from Namibia and Angola and Eastern Atlantic warm temperate waters (UK, Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain) and Atlantic islands (Azores, Canaries, Ascension) (Guiry & Guiry 2009).

Type locality : Sussex, England (Guiry & Guiry 2009).

 

Rhodymenia holmesii, Tsitsikamma (BOL). Scale divisions 1 mm.

Rhodymenia holmesii. 1. Habit. 2. Cross section. Reproduced from Stegenga et al. (1997).

 

References Rhodymenia holmesii

Ardissone, F. 1893. Nota alla phycologia Mediterranea. Rendiconti del reale Instituto Lombardo di scienze e letter, Serie II, 26: 674-690.

Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2009. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched May 2009.

Stegenga, H., Bolton, J.J. 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 18 November 2024.