Polyides rotunda (Hudson) Gaillon
Also known as Polyides caprinus (Hudson) Papenfuss.
Description: Cartilaginous, cylindrical,
brownish red (drying black) fronds, to 200 mm high, in tufts
from basal disc to 10 mm diam. Fronds 1-2 mm thick, undivided
for some distance, then regularly and repeatedly dichotomously
branched, axils rounded, apices rounded.
Habitat: On rocks and stones in open sandy
pools and runnels, lower intertidal and shallow subtidal, widely
distributed, common; often in shell sand (above at Finavarra,
Co. Clare, Ireland).
Similar species:
Furcellaria lumbricalis
from which it may be distinguished by the absence of a rhizoidal
base, wider branching angles (i.e. more fan-shaped), and that
the fronds are red when held up to the light.
Distribution: Sweden and Norway, Britain and
Ireland, south to Spain and Morocco; records further south
require assessment. In North American from New England north to
Nova Scotia.
Note: Polyides is from the Greek (Poly, variable, and -ides,
like) and Greek names ending in -ides or -oides are feminine.
Polyides was regarded as masculine ("rotundus") but is
now regarded as feminine ("rotunda"). Genders of such
nouns are correctable under Art. 60 of the Botanical Code. The
genus name is less than appropriate as Polyides rotunda
populations very similar throughout its range
More pictures are available at
AlgaeBase.
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