T lM ê C L U m .
W .H .H i e l .b ü E k
P l a t e CLXXVII.
GRACIL ARIA ERECTA, Grev.
G e n . Ch a r . Frond filiform, or rarely flat, camoso-cartilaginons, continuous,
cellular; the central cells very large, empty or full of granular m atter;
those of the surface minute, forming densely packed, vertical filaments.
1 of two kinds on distinct individuals; 1, convex tubercles
having a thick pericarp composed of radiating filaments,
contaming a mass of minute spores on a central placenta; 2, tetraspores
imbedded in the cells of the surface.
G raoilaria erecta ; fronds nmnerous from a common disk, short, erect,
cylindrical, sparingly dichotomous; branches subsimple; tubercles
globose, clustered ; tetraspores contained in terminal, lanceolate, podlike
ramuh.
Grac ilabia erecta, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 124. t. 14.
P looaria erecta, Fndl. 3rd Suppl. p. 51.
Gigartina erecta, Hook. Br. FI. vol. ii. p. 300. Wyatt, Alg. Banm. no. 115.
Harv. Man. p. 357. Harv. in Mack. FI. Hib. p a rt 3. p. 200.
Sphærococcus (?) erectus, Grev. Crypt, t. 357.
H ab. On sand-covered rocks near low-water mark ; also in 4 -5 fathom
water. Perennial. Fruiting in winter. Very rare. Sidmouth and
Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. Belfast Bay, M r. W. Thompson. Port Bal-
lantrae, Mr. D. Moore. Roundstone, M r. M e Calla. Orkney, Rev.
J . H . Pollexfen, Lieut. Thomas, and L r . Me B a in .
Geogr. D is t r . Coast of France.
D esc r. Root a flat, thin disk, spreading on the rock. Fronds numerous from
the same base, from two to four inches high, seldom so much, cylindrical,
filiform, erect, twice as thick as hog’s bristle, irregularly branched ; sometimes
simple for their greater length, forked at the apex ; sometimes twice
or thrice forked ; sometimes furnished with a few lateral branches. Branches
mostly simple, long, naked, often flexuous, tapering to a fine point.
Tubercles sphærical, very prominent, densely clustered on the branches,
often near the tips, containing, under a thick, cellular coating, a large central
mass of minute spores. Tetraspores contained in lanceolate, terminal
pods or swollen ramuli, which are mostly in pairs ; oblong, transversely
parted. Colour a more or less deep red, becoming darker in drying. Substance
cartilaginous, somewhat rigid. It does not adhere, or but very imperfectly,
to paper in drying.
A curious and elegant little plant, scarcely known out of
England, and one of the discoveries of Mrs. Griffiths, to whom
it has long been familiar under the manuscript name suffocatus-,
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