Codium australasicum P.C.Silva
Australian Journal of Botany 280, fig. 13, pl. 2 fig. 2 (1956)
Conservation Code:
Not threatened
Naturalised Status: Native to Western Australia
Name Status:
Current
Scientific Description
John Huisman & Cheryl Parker,
Monday 20 June 2011
Habit and structure. Thallus firm, dark green, erect, repeatedly dichotomous, to 50 cm high, branches terete, 4–8(–10) mm in diameter below, tapering gradually to 2–3 mm in diameter near apices. Utricles cylindrical to slightly clavate, (100–)130–210(–300) µm in diameter, 460–800 µm long; apices rounded to truncate, wall thin or slightly thickened (–15 µm, rarely to 35 µm, then lamellate); hairs (or scars) common, borne shortly below apices. Medullary filaments 20–35 µm in diameter with the plug 65–200 µm distant from utricle base.
Reproduction. Gametangia elongate-ovoid, 80–160 µm in diameter and 230–390 µm long, 1–3 per utricle, borne on a protuberance at or below middle of utricle.
Distribution. From Geographe Bay, W. Aust., around southern Australia and Tas., to Tuggerah Lakes, N.S.W. New Zealand.
Habitat. C australasicum is a sublittoral species known from low water level (usually shaded) to 33 m deep, on rough-water to moderate coasts.
[After Womersley, Mar. Benthic Fl. Southern Australia I: 238 1984)]
