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Electronic Flora of South Australia Genus Fact Sheet

Genus CHIRACANTHIA Falkenberg in Schmitz & Falkenberg 1897: 441.

Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Rhodomelaceae – Tribe Polysiphonieae

Thallus erect to flaccid, with long axes and lateral indeterminate branches bearing short determinate laterals above, usually bare below. Holdfast discoid. Structure. Apices enclosed by determinate laterals, developing 4 pericentral cells and becoming heavily corticate. Determinate laterals ecorticate, with 3–4 basal branches lying in one plane, each tapering to a single apical cell sometimes extending to a monosiphonous filament.

Reproduction: Gametophytes dioecious. Carposporophytes with a branched gonimoblast bearing ovoid to clavate terminal carposporangia. Cystocarps sessile on determinate branchlets, ovoid; pericarp ostiolate, 2 (–3) cells thick, basally slightly corticate. Spermatangial branches replacing trichoblasts and terminating determinate branchlets, with sterile basal and apical cells.

Tetrasporangia in elongate determinate branchlets, single per segment, spirally arranged.

Type species: C. arborea (Harvey) Falkenberg in Schmitz & Falkenberg 1897: 441.

Taxonomic notes: Chiracanthia is probably a monotypic genus, characterised by the habit, discoid holdfast, and the somewhat compressed determinate lateral branchlets.

References:

SCHMITZ, F. & FALKENBERG, P. (1897). Rhodomelaceae. In Engler, A. & Prantl, K., Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien. T.1. Abt. 2, pp. 421–480. (Englemann: Leipzig.)

The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIID complete list of references.

Publication: Womersley, H.B.S. (24 February, 2003)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Rhodophyta. Part IIID. Ceramiales – Delesseriaceae, Sarcomeniaceae, Rhodomelaceae
Reproduced with permission from The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIID 2003, by H.B.S. Womersley. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Copyright Commonwealth of Australia.


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