/ f/ y [ 1817 ]
CONFERVA pedicellata.
Fruit-s talked Purp lish Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMS Algce.
Gen. Char. Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
Spec. Char. Purplish, much branched, forked, capillary.
Joints many times longer than broad,
slightly swelling upwards. Capsules obovate, on
short stalks, solitary, from the forks of the branches.
F o r this also we are entirely obliged to Mr. W . Borrer,
who discovered it on Brighthelmston beach in July 1807. We
have in vain sought for a description in Roth, or any other
competent writer, to which it could be referred.
The colour is a very pale dull rose-colour. The root fibrous.
Fronds about 3 inches high, finer than the human hair, forming
thick straight tufts like C. stricta, Dillw. Conf. t. 40,
acutely forked at almost every joint. Joints very long; the
smaller cylindrical; the larger ones swelling towards their
upper end. Capsules obovate, containing a mass of dark-
red seeds, and each standing on a short stalk, proceeding,
mostly solitary, from some of the upper forks of the frond.
Mr. Borrer is inclined to think the base of the capsule is, in a
manner, articulated with its proper stalk. Sometimes these
stalks have a lateral direction, as may be seen in our figure.
This, like C. multifida, t. 1816, would come under Dr. Roth’s
Ceramium, a genus which perhaps may be established, when
the subject has more generally been studied, and sufficient
facts are collected for any theoretical botanist to decide
upon it.