ria/c r \ \ / \
P l a t e CXXIX.
CALLITHAMNION BRODIÆI, Harv.
G e n . C h a e . Frond rosy o r b row n ish -red , filamentous ; stem e ith e r opake
a n d c ellu lar, or tra n s lu c e n t an d jo in te d ; b ran ch es jo in te d , o n e -tu b ed ,
m o stly p in n a te (rarely dichotomous o r irreg u la r) ; dissepiments hyaline.
F ru it of tw o k in d s , on d is tin c t p la n ts ; 1, ex te rn a l tetraspores, s c a tte
re d a lo n g th e u ltim a te b ran c lile ts, or b o rn e on little pedicels ; 2,
ro u n d ish o r lobed, b e rry -lik e receptacles (favelloe) sea ted o n th e m a in
bra n ch es , a n d co n ta in in g n um e ro u s a n g u la r spores. Callithamnion
[Lijngh) ,—from kcOOus, beautiful, an d Baixvlov, a little shrub.
Callithamnion Brodioei-, stem sub-opake, veiny, obscurely jointed, slender,
simple, furnished throughout with densely inserted, patent, lateral
branches ; branches furnished at each joint, with short, quadrifarious,
secondary-branches with a narrow hastate outline ; plumules alternate,
subsimple, pinnate, ovate, their pinnules patent, frequently with a few
secund processes near the apex ; tetraspores oval, sessile near the tips
of the pinnules, or on their accessory processes ; favellæ büobed, on
the secondary branches.
C a l l i t h a m n i o n Brodiæi, Harv. in Hook. Br. FI. vol. ii. p. 105. Harv.
Man. p. 105. Wyatt, Alg. Banm. no. 184.
H a b . Parasitical on Algæ, near low-water mark. Annual. Summer. Rare.
Porres, M r. Brodie. Coast of Northumberland, M r. Robertson.
Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths and Miss Cutler. Cornwall, M r. Ralfs.
G e o g e . D i s t e . British Islands.
D e s c e . Boot disciform. Fronds tufted, from one to three inches high, with
a conical outline. Stem mostly simple, as thick as hog’s bristle, smooth, or
in old specimens slightly shaggy, opake below, more or less evidently
jointed above, the joints full of longitudinal veins, furnished throughout
their length with very closely set, lateral, quadrifarious, patent branches,
the lowermost of which are longest, the rest gi'adually shorter upwards.
Branches more or less evidently jointed, the joints twice or thrice as long as
broad, and full of veins, simple, like the stem, and like it densely clothed
with a second, and in luxuriant specimens, a third series of lesser branches,
gradually decreasing in size, but of a similar character. These secondary
branches have a veiy narrow hastate outline, and are pluraulate at every
joint, the plumules somewhat spirally alternate, gradually diminishing in
size and composition from the base to the apex. Plumules small, ovate,
pinnate, sessile, with a flexuous rachis ; their pinnules simple, patent, or
erecto-patent, often furnished with a few secund processes towards the
apex ; apices sub-acute. Joints of the plumules once and a half to twice
as long as broad. Tettaspores oval, sessile, one or two together, on the
processes of the pinnules. Favellæ generally two-lobed, large, irregularly
bursting out of the sides of the lesser branches, which are then frequently
distorted. Colour brownish-red. Substance cartilagiiico-membranaceous,