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Electronic Flora of South Australia Genus Fact Sheet

Genus NITOPHYLLUM Greville 1830: xlvii, 77

Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Delesseriaceae

Thallus foliose to deeply dissected, membranous, without midrib or veins, monostromatic above, becoming tri- or polystromatic below; holdfast discoid or fibrous. Structure. Growth apical when very young, otherwise marginal and intercalary. Cells equivalent when polystromatic. Cells multinucleate.

Reproduction: Gametophytes dioecious. Procarps scattered, formed usually in opposite pairs, the primary cell cutting off a cover cell and a supporting cell bearing a single, 1-celled, lateral sterile group and a 4-celled carpogonial branch. Carposporophyte with a small basal fusion cell and much branched gonimoblast bearing terminal (often sequential) clavate carposporangia, occasionally in chains. Cystocarps hemispherical, ostiolate; pericarp 3–4 cells thick. Spermatangial sori scattered, with primary cells bearing a layer of cortical cells which cut off elongate spermatangia.

Tetrasporangial sori scattered, with cortical filaments and tetrasporangia cut off from primary cells or inner cortical cells and covered by the outer cortex.

Lectotype species: N. punctatum (Stackhouse) Greville 1830: 79, pl. 12 - see Maggs & Hommersand 1993: 259, fig. 81.

Taxonomic notes: A genus of numerous species (3 provisionally recorded from southern Australia), most of which need detailed investigation, especially of the procarp structure and origin of tetrasporangia.

References:

GREVILLE, R.K. (1830). Algae Britannicae. (Maclachlan & Stewart: Edinburgh.)

MAGGS, C.A. & HOMMERSAND, M.H. (1993). Seaweeds of the British Isles. Vol. 1. Rhodophyta. Part 3A, Ceramiales. (HMSO: London.)

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

Author: H. B. S. Womersley

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.

KEY TO SPECIES OF NITOPHYLLUM

1. Thallus foliose to much branched or lobed, usually 10–25 cm high, lobes 5–15 mm across

N. crispum

1. Thallus laterally or subdichotomously branched, 3–12 cm high, branches 3–6 mm broad

2

2. Tetrasporangial sori marginal, elongate to lunate

N. fallax

2. Tetrasporangial sori scattered, rounded

N. pulchellum


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