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Electronic Flora of South Australia Genus Fact Sheet
Phylum Rhodophyta – Family Rhodomelaceae – Tribe Polysiphonieae
Thallus erect or flaccid, densely branched with main axes bearing indeterminate laterals radially for 4–5 orders, all branches densely covered with short, branched determinate laterals; all branches ecorticate; attachment by rhizoids from base of axes. Structure. Apical cells dome-shaped, subapical cells cutting off 7 pericentral cells and determinate laterals spirally, determinate laterals first simple, becoming branched 4–5 times, bearing trichoblasts.
Reproduction: Gametophytes dioecious. Carposporophytes with a basal fusion cell and branched gonimoblast with clavate terminal carposporangia. Cystocarps sessile or short-stalked, ovoid; pericarp ostiolate, 2 cells thick, with a slight cortex near the base. Spermatangial branches replacing the whole trichoblast, with a sterile basal cell only.
Tetrasporangia in branches of determinate laterals, single per segment, spirally arranged.
Type species: D. patersonis (Sonder) Kylin 1956: 504.
Taxonomic notes: Diplocladia includes a single species, characterised by 7 pericentral cells and with all branches ecorticate. The differentiation of indeterminate branches and short determinate laterals is well defined.
References:
KYLIN, H. (1956). Die Gattungen der Rhodophyceen. (Gleerups: Lund.)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIID complete list of references.
Publication:
Womersley, H.B.S. (24 February, 2003)
The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia
Rhodophyta. Part IIID. Ceramiales – Delesseriaceae, Sarcomeniaceae, Rhodomelaceae
Reproduced with permission from The Marine Benthic Flora of Southern Australia Part IIID 2003, by H.B.S. Womersley. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Copyright Commonwealth of Australia.
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