Electronic Flora of South Australia Species Fact Sheet

Sargassum lacerifolium (Turner) C. Agardh 1820: 15; 1824: 298.

Phylum Phaeophyta – Order Fucales – Family Sargassaceae

Selected citations: J. Agardh 1848: 300; 1872: 71; 1889: 74, pl. 23 figs 7–11. Grunow 1915: 361. Harvey 1862: pl. 208. Lucas 1936: 66.

Synonyms

Fucus lacerifolius Turner 1811: 81, pl. 167.

Carpacanthus lacerifolius (Turner) Kützing 1849: 624; 1861: 13, pl. 42.

Carpacanthus racemosus Kützing 1861: 14, pl. 45 fig. I.

Sargassum acanthicarpum Suhr 1836: 337, pl. 3 fig. 23.

Thallus (Fig. 163B) medium to dark brown, 10–60 cm long, with a simple or branched stipe 1–3 cm long, terete, 2–3 mm in diameter, with no or slight branch residues, bearing apically and radially 1–6 primary branches. Holdfast discoid-conical, 0.5–2 cm across, usually with a single stipe; epilithic. Primary branches 10–50 cm long, axes robust, triquetrous, 2–3 mm broad below, bearing tristichously arranged but displaced, simple, retroflex, laterals, becoming denuded below. Laterals (lower) 4–10 cm long, (1–) 1.5–3 cm broad, usually slightly undulate, margins usually strongly spinous or slightly to deeply incised, grading gradually or abruptly to upper laterals 2–8 cm long and 2–10 mm broad, usually deeply incised, often lost from old branches. Vesicles absent to plentiful, petiolate, subspherical, (4–) 6–9 mm in diameter, often with a terminal leaflet 2–10 mm long.

Reproduction: Thalli monoecious. Receptacles (Fig. 168A) bisexual, single or often clustered on upper laterals, petiolate, simple, (2–) 5–10 (–17) mm long and (1–) 2–3 mm broad, distinctly triquetrous usually with prominent spines along the ridges, with scattered ostioles on the receptacle surfaces. Conceptacles unisexual or occasionally bisexual; oogonia sessile, ovoid, 140–180 µm long and 80–120 µm/m in diameter, few per conceptacle; antheridia sessile or on short, branched, paraphyses, clavate to ovoid, 22–30 µm long and 8–14 µm in diameter.

Selected specimens: Pearson 1., S. Aust., upper sublittoral (Specht, 17.ii.1960; ADU, A24490). Tiparra reef, S. Aust., 12 m deep (Shepherd, 27.vii.1970; ADU, A35981). Port Noarlunga, S. Aust., upper sublittoral (Baldock, 7.xii.1965; ADU, A30490). Port Willunga, S. Aust., upper sublittoral pools (Womersley, 25.x.I 959; ADU, A23958). Little Rocky Point, Eastern Cove, Kangaroo I., S. Aust., 2–4 m deep (Womersley, 22.viii.1963; ADU, A26914). Pennington Bay, Kangaroo I., S. Aust., drift (Womersley, 13.iv.1947; ADU, A4495). Dutton Beach, Portland, Vic., drift (Beauglehole, 8.vii.1951; ADU, A21782). Queenscliff, Vic., drift ( Womersley, 12.x.1982; ADU, A55367). Walkerville, Vic., drift (Womersley, 11.xi.1982; ADU, A55356). Bridport, Tas., drift (Womersley, 6.xi.I 982; ADU, A54528). Pebbly Beach, 20 km N. of Batemans Bay, N.S.W., upper sublittoral pools ( Womersley, 15.i.1964; ADU, A27416).

Distribution map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of SA

Distribution: From Pearson I., S. Aust. to Pebbly Beach, N. of Batemans Bay, N.S.W., and around Tasmania. Also recorded from W. Aust. (Preiss) by Sonder (1848, p. 162) but this record may apply to S. tristichum.

Taxonomic notes: Type from Port Dalrymple (Tamar Est. mouth), N. Tas; in BM.

The large, spinous, triquetrous receptacles ally S. lacerifolium with S. tristichum, from which it differs by the deeply incised or spinous margined laterals.

Carpacanthus racemosus Kützing and Sargassum acanthicarpum Suhr (both from "New Holland") are almost certainly the same as S. lacerifolium, both (from the illustrations) having deeply incised laterals and triquetrous, spiny, receptacles. A specimen in MEL (687514) labelled S. acanthicarpum Suhr and accompanied by his illustration, is rather inadequate but is probably S. lacerifolium.

References:

AGARDH, C.A. (1820). Species Algarum. Vol. 1, Part 1, Fucoideae, pp. 1–168. (Lund.)

AGARDH, C.A. (1824). Systema Algarum. (Lund.)

AGARDH, J.G. (1848). Species, Genera et Ordines Algarum. Vol. 1. (Gleerup: Lund.)

AGARDH, J.G. (1872). Till algernes systematik. Ada Univ. lund. 9(8), 1–71.

AGARDH, J.G. (1889). Species Sargassorum Australiae. K. Svenska Vetenskapsakad. Handl. 23(3), 1–133, Plates 1–31.

GRUNOW, A. (1915). Additamenta ad cognitionem Sargassorum. Verh. Zool. -Bot. Wien 65, 329–448.

HARVEY, W.H. (1862). Phycologia Australica. Vol. 4, Plates 181–240. (Reeve: London.)

KÜTZING, F.T. (1849). Species Algarum. (Leipzig.)

KÜTZING, F.T. (1861). Tabulae Phycologicae. Vol. 11. (Nordhausen.)

LUCAS, A.H.S. (1936). The Seaweeds of South Australia. Part 1. Introduction and the Green and Brown Seaweeds. (Govt Printer: Adelaide.)

SONDER, O.W. (1848). Algae. In Lehmann, C., Plantae Preissianae. Vol. 2, pp. 161–195. (Hamburg.)

SUHR, J.N. von (1836). Beiträge zur Algenkunde. Flora 1836, 337–350, Plates 3, 4.

TURNER, D. (1811). Fuci sive Plantarum Fucorum Generi a Botanicis Ascriptarum 'cones Descriptiones et Historia. Vol. 3, pp. 1–148, Plates 135–196. (London.)

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

Author: H.B.S. Womersley

Publication: Womersley, H.B.S. (14 December, 1987)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Part II
©Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, Government of South Australia

Illustrations in Womersley Part II, 1997: FIGS 163B, 168A.

Figure 163   enlarge

Fig. 163. A. Sargassum tristichum (ADU, A19551). B. Sargassum lacerilbhum (ADU, A55356).

Figure 168   enlarge

Fig. 168. Receptacles of species of Sargassum. A. Sargassum lacerifolium (ADU, A55356), triquetrous receptacles. B,C. Sargassum linearifolium (B, ADU, A19095; C, ADU, A34191). B. Young receptacles. C. Mature receptacles. D. Sargassum spinuligerum (ADU, A39204). E. Sargassum podacanthum (ADU, A24690). F. Sargassum distichum (ADU, A24363).

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