Home / Rhodophyceae / Macroreds / Phyllophora
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Name derivation:
Phyllophora = L. phyllo: leaf + phorus: bearing; bearing leaves or leaf bearer pseudoceranoides = L. pseudo: false + ceras: horned, with horns + oides: like
Classification:
Phyllophora Greville 1830; 11 of 91 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2014).
Morphology:
Algae 10-25 (-50) cm tall, forming long wiry (terete) stipes bearing firm leafy blades; many frond arising from a common disc. Blades red-brown to dull purple, membranous, fan-shaped, forked or lacerated, and with wedge-shaped bases. Bladelets densely packed, dichotomously branched, and with rounded tips. Medulla with large, thick-walled cells decreasing in diameter outwards. Cortex with 3 or more layers of cells, decreasing in size and pigmented on surface. Tetrasporangia cruciate, in rows, wedge-shaped large, and with dark thickened external sori near the bases of blades. Gametophytes dioecious, spermatangia on bright red marginal blades. Cystocarps stalked, urn-shaped, and either on stipes or blade margins. algae perennial.
Similar genera:
Coccotylus, that looks somewhat similar to Phyllophora, lacks an independent tetrasporophyte and specialized leaflets for gametangia.
Habitat:
Common, with base of alga (i.e. stipes) sometimes covered with sand, encrusted with bryozoans, or covered by sponges, particularly in low tide pools. Growing in lower littoral tide pools (i.e. sponge-covered habitats) to 20 m in the sublittoral zone of open coastal and estuarine habitats.
References:
Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2014. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 2 May 2014. Newroth, P. R. and A. R. A. Newroth. 1971a. The distribution of Phyllophora in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions. Can. J. Bot. 49: 1017-1024. Newroth, P. R. and A. R. A. Newroth. 1971b. The nomenclature of the North Atlantic species of Phyllophora Greville. Phycologia 10: 93-97 Taylor 1971; Taylor, W. R. 1957. Marine Algae of the Northeastern Coast of North America. Revised edition. Univ. Michigan Press., Ann Arbor, ix + 509 pp. ()