Ganonema pinnatum (Harv.) Huisman
Australian Systematic Botany 828 (2002)
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 to 11 cm high, pale pink to whitish, moderately (rarely heavily) calcified, with percurrent axes, paniculate, when pressed appearing alternate to subopposite. Axes to 1.5 mm in diameter, tapering to apices and smaller lateral branches 0.5 mm in diameter. Medullary cells to 25–50 µm in diameter. Assimilatory filaments sparsely dichotomously branched, often unbranched and curved in distal regions; cells mostly subcylindrical or barrel-shaped, narrow near base of filament, broadening to 15–20 µm in diameter near apex; apical cell hemispherical. Terminal glandular cells and hairs common.
Reproduction. Dioecious. Spermatangia borne on short filaments arising apically and laterally on upper cells of assimilatory filaments. Carpogonial branches 4- or 5-celled, curved, borne on medial to lower cells of assimilatory filaments, on middle or upper region of supporting cell. Zygote dividing transversely; distal cell producing a compact gonimoblast. Involucral branches arising from cells adjacent to the supporting cell and nearby assimilatory filaments.
Distribution. Apparently widespread in tropical
regions. In Australia, known only from the Capricorn Group of the Great Barrier
Reef, Qld., and the Dampier Archipelago, W. Aust.
