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Brongniartella byssoides (Goodenough et Woodward) Schmitz, 1893
Le Jolis
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RHODOPHYCEAE
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(Brongniart's fine flax weed)
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| Photo details | ||
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Whole plant on sand innundated bedrock at 3m. Scale: plant length 16cm Location:Stackpole Head, Pembrokeshire - Photographer:F. Bunker - Date:13/05/2001 - Identified By:F. Bunker - Verified By:C. Maggs |
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| Identification Notes | ||
| Erect axes 7 to 30 cm high and 0.2 to 0.6 mm in diameter, bearing a spiral arrangement of first order laterals that in a mature plant are longer at the base than towards the tip, giving a pyramidal shape. Axes are ecorticate and polysiphonous with 7 periaxial cells and arise from tangled prostrate axes which attched to the substratum via rhizoids with terminating discoid pads. The first-order laterals are also polysiphonous and these in turn bear a further 2 to 3 orders of spirally arranged laterals. All axes (except bases of old thalli) are clothed with pigmented trichoblasts which resemble monosiphonous branchlets. Thalli are soft in texture but not delicate and with tough and flexible old axes. Colour ranges from bright red in young thalli to dark brownish-red in old thalli. Other characterising features: Plants dioecious. Spermatangial branchlets borne in dense spiral clusters on short polysiphonous laterals. cystocarps sessile, slightly urceolate and 350 to 400 µm long and 250 to 350 µm in diameter. Tetrasporangia borne in long spiral series of up to 10 on last 2 orders of branching, spherical to ellipsoid 90 to 120 µm long and 80 to 110 µm in diameter. Maggs & Hommersand, 1993 |
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| Confusion | ||
| Dasya spp. have cortication in some degree whereas B. byssoides is entirely ecorticate. Also, Dasya spp. produce tetrasporangia in specialised pod-like stichidia, whereas in B. byssoides they are borne on lateral branches. Sphondylothamnion multifidum can resemble B. byssoides but this species has a monosiphonous rather than a polysiphonous main axis and branchlets are whorled, not spiral. |
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| Habitat | ||
| Epilithic on bedrock and mobile hard substrata and also epiphytic on a variety of algae from extreme low water to 30 m. |
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| Recorded distribution | ||
| Generally distributed around the British Isles, northwards to Shetland. |
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| Researched by | ||
| F. Bunker / C. Maggs |
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| Synonyms | ||
| Acknowledgements | ||
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Additional Photos
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| Whole plant on sand innundated bedrock at 3m. Scale: plant length 16cm Location:Stackpole Head, Pembrokeshire - Photographer:F. Bunker - Date:13/05/2001 - Identified By:F. Bunker - Verified By:C. Maggs | ||
| Plant in tray (that shown in Photo 1). Scale: Frond length 15.5cm Location:Stackpole Head - Photographer:F. Bunker - Date:13/05/2001 - Identified By:F. Bunker - Verified By:C. Maggs | ||
| Frond in tray showing lateral branches densely clothed in branched trichoblasts. Scale: Branch length approximately 4 cm Location:Stackpole Head - Photographer:F. Bunker - Date:13/05/2001 - Identified By:F. Bunker - Verified By:C. Maggs | ||
| Detail of ecorticate polysiphonous main axis showing branched trichoblasts. Scale: Width of picture approximately 2 cm Location:Stackpole Head - Photographer:F. Bunker - Date:13/05/2001 - Identified By:F. Bunker - Verified By:C. Maggs | ||
| Tetrasporangia on lateral branches. Scale: Width of picture approximately 2 cm. Location:Stackpole Head - Photographer:F. Bunker - Date:13/05/2001 - Identified By:F. Bunker - Verified By:C. Maggs | ||
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