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Name derivation:
Asparagus (with suggestive morphology) Common name: Harpoon weed
Classification:
Asparagopsis Montagne 1849; 3 of 8 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2016) Subclass Florideophyceae; Order Bonnemaisoniales; Family Bonnemaisoniaceae Synonym: Falkenbergia F. Schmitz
Morphology:
Delicate, bushy with alternate to radial branches. Prostrate axes are attached with rhizoids. Dioecious. Cystocarps are borne on short stalks and produce carpospores (Dawes and Mathieson 2008).
Similar genera:
Habitat:
All coasts of North Carolina and Florida to a depth of 9 m. Also occurs throughout the Caribbean, Bermuda, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, and the Mediterranean (Ibid.)
References:
Dawes, C.J. and A.C. Mathieson 2008. Seaweeds of Florida. University Press of Florida (592 pp). Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2014. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 30 May 2014. Montagne, C. (1840). Plantae cellulares. In: Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries. (Barker-Webb, P. & Berthelot, S. Eds) Vol.3, part 2, sect. ultima [4], pp. 137-192. Paris: Mellier.