Iridaea oblongifructa Setch.

• Region

  North America

• Country

  United States of America

• State/Province

  Washington

• Locality

  Whidbey Island

• Coordinates

  48.1526, -122.571

• Coordinate Uncertainty (m)

  31041.6

• Georeferencing Method

  Georeferencing Quick Reference Guide, Version 2012. Located coordinates of geogr. center of Whidbey Island. Meas, from coord. to farthest extent of island to find linear extent (31030 m). Input all info in MaNIS Georef. Calc. to find uncert. radius (Bounded Area).

• Geodetic Datum

  WGS84

• Distribution

  Map all specimens of this taxon

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Callymenia oblongifructa comb. nov.

Iridaea oblongifructa Setchell. Notes on Algae I., Zoe, vol. 5, p. 123,
1901; Setchell & Gardner, Algae Northwestern America, p. 300,

4,r	1903-

7C/

When in 1901 I described a plant sent by N. L. Gardner
from Whidbey Island, Washington, as Iridaea oblongifructa, I
relied upon the habit and the internal structure to refer it to the
genus Iridaea. The cystocarp also seemed more diffuse, like that
of Iridaea rather than of Callymenia. I did not, at that time,
observe the procarps, nor did I find the tetrasporangia. In 1903
Gardner and myself, in publishing our “Algae of Northwestern
America,” expressed the opinion that it might be a species of
Callymenia.

Since then, I have been able to examine other specimens and
to make further studies, with the result that I am certain that
the species must be removed from Iridaea into Callymenia, where
it forms a distinct species.

Callymenia oblongifructa, even yet, is a very little known
plant. It is usually obtained in fragments, often of large size,
but still incomplete. Young plants, seemingly of this species,

1912]

Setchell: Algae Novae et Minus Cognitae.

235

have been collected, but, since they are sterile and much thinner
than the adult type, their identification is not so certain as could
be desired.

In general, it seems certain that C. oblongifructa has the
habit and appearance of a species of Schizymenia or of Dilsea.
Arising from a broad fleshy disk, the plant soon broadens to
ovate or even to cordate, and then grows on into a frond which
is much longer than it is broad. It certainly reaches a length of
75 centimeters and a breadth of at least 30 centimeters. As the
plants giving these measurements were fragments of a larger
plant, it seems equally certain that plants must exist with meas-
urements even considerably greater than these. At first the
frond is undivided, but later splits to the very base.

The texture is firm and membranaceous when dry, becoming
more or less fleshy when the dried plant is soaked in fresh water.
Some individuals deliquesce more or less completely after a time
in the “soaking out” process, but others remain intact. The
color varies from dark red to light red, but the latter color seems
to belong particularly to “weathered” specimens. The surface
is very delicately marked by coarse but very slightly elevated
wrinkles running out flabellately from the base. This character
of the surface, while slight and often obscure, often serves to
identify a sterile specimen. The thickness of the adult frond
varies in the same frond from about 210/a to 550/*, but large
specimens, which are however still young, are often not over
150/x or '200/1 in thickness. On account of the delicate wrinkling,
the thickness varies considerably in the same frond and within
short distances.

The internal structure has a certain fairly close resemblance
to that of true species of Iridaea. It varies somewhat, according
to age and condition, and such variation may be found even in
the same frond. The general course of the slender (or, at times,
coarser) filaments of the medulla is longitudinal, but there are
oblique cross connections at frequent intervals making more of
a reticulum, or at least a looser one, than is usual in species of
Callymenia. The cortex on each side is thin, as compared with
the medulla. It consists of about five layers of cells loosely but
regularly placed in the surrounding jelly, and decreasing in size,

NEW YORK
botanical
garden

Herbarium of the University of California

PLANTS OF	„

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0 1	2	3 4	5 6 7 8	9 10	The New York
cm			copyright reserved		Botanical Garden

236 University of California Publications in Botany. [Vol. 4

while increasing in color, as they approach the surface. A fairly
thick and transparent cuticula clothes the surface.

The cystocarps are broad and deep-red, a very little, and
equally, prominent on both surfaces. The “nuclei” or spore
clusters are small and well separated from one another. Pro-
carpic branches are fairly abundant and easily detected. In
addition to the procarp, they consist of about five cells much
elongated laterally and of the general character of those of Callo-
phyllis (cf. Hauptfleisch in Engler & Prantl, Die natiirl. Pfl-
fam., 1 Th., Abth 2, fig. 220D, 1896) and of Erythrophyllum
(cf. Twiss, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot., vol. 4, pi. 24, fig. 11, 1911).
The structure of the procarpic branch assists very materially in
deciding the position as between Iridaea and Callymenia.

The tetrasporangia are scattered through the cortex and occur