Home / Rhodophyceae / Macroreds / Bostrychia
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Name derivation:
Bostrychia Montagne ex Ramon de la Sagra = Gr. bostrychos: a small curl or twisted; montagnei= named for the French phycologist J. F. C. Montagne
Classification:
Bostrychia E.M. Fries Order Ceramiales; Family Rhodomelaceae
Morphology:
Plants delicate to coarse, in fern-like tufts, dark, to dull purple. Erect branches arise randomly from prostrate fibrous axes that produce random haptera ventrally at forks. Branching of erect axes sparse and alternate below and distichous and spreading above. Older erect axes determinate, stiff, denuded, and with flexible, pinnate, featherlike, incurved branchlets above. Main axes with 6-7 pericentral cells and 5-7 layers of cortical cells. Branchlets ecorticate and having 5 pericentral cells, with the last 2-5 segments uniseriate. Tetrasporangia tetrahedrally divided and within 2 rows of swollen stichidia that are short-stalked and partially corticated. Cystocarps ovoid, terminal, and either solitary or in pairs.
Similar genera:
Acanthophora J. V. Lamouroux, Amansia J. V. Lamouroux, Bryocladia F. Schmitz, Bryothamnion Kuetzing, Chondria C. Agardh, Digenea C. Agardh, Enantiocladia Falkenberg in F. Schmitz, Herposiphonia Nageli, Heterodasya Joly & Oliveira, Laurencia J. V. Lamouroux, Lophosiphonia Falkenberg in Engler and Prantl, Murrayella F. Schmitz, Neosiphonia M. S.Kim & I. K. Lee, Osmundaria J. V. Lamouroux, Osmundea Stackhouse, Palisada (Yamada) Nam, Polysiphonia Greville, Waldoia W. R. Taylor & Wrightiella F. Schmitz
Habitat:
Common on mangrove roots in Florida, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, and Sierra Leone .
References:
Dawes, C. J. and A. C. Mathieson. 2008. The seaweeds of Florida. Univ. Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 591 pp.; Taylor, W. R. 1960. Marine algae of the eastern tropical and subtropical coasts of the America. Univ. Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 870 pp. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2016. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 19 September 2013. Montagne, J.F.C. 1842. Algae. In: Histoire physique, politique et naturelle de l'Ile de Cuba. Botanique-plantes cellulaires. (De La Sagra, R. Eds), pp. 1-104. Paris.