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Electronic Flora of South Australia Family Fact Sheet

FAMILY ALARIACEAE Setchell & Gardner

Phylum Phaeophyta – Order Laminariales

Thallus (sporophyte) erect, with a single primary blade from the holdfast. Holdfast moderately branched, of terete, robust haptera, with a single, simple or slightly branched stipe. Fronds simple or laterally branched, with laterals arising from the transition region and maturing basipetally or remaining as distinct laterals attached to the upper stipe, with or without a midrib, disintegrating apically; most genera without pneumatocysts. Structure of a filamentous medulla and small-celled cortex with a surface meristoderm.

Reproduction: Reproduction of the sporophyte involving sori of unilocular sporangia (with paraphyses) on the surface of the central axis or the laterals, or on distinct, foliose laterals attached to the upper stipe.

Gametophytes oogamous.

A family of some 7 genera, largely restricted to the north temperate regions, with Ecklonia widely distributed in the cool temperate Southern Hemisphere and in Japan.

Taxonomic notes: Gametophytes microscopic, filamentous, dioecious, the female less branched and with larger cells than the male.

References: The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part II

Author: H.B.S. Womersley

Publication: Womersley, H.B.S. (14 December, 1987)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Part II
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