Melanosiphon intestinalis (Saunders) Wynne

Synonyms:

Myelophycus intestinalis Saunders, M. intestinalis f. tenue Setchell et Gardner, Melanosiphon intestinalis f. tenue (Setchell et Gardner) Wynne

Illustrations:

Abbott and Hollenberg 1976, p. 193, fig. 155 (habit); Edelstein et al. 1970, p. 5, fig. 1 (photo: habit), p. 6, figs. 2–4 (photos: unilocular organs with paraphyses), fig. 5 (photo: plurilocular organs), p. 8, figs. 6–16 (various plurilocular and unilocular organs with paraphyses); Setchell and Gardner 1925, pl. 40, fig. 50 (x-section, w/ unilocular organs); Wynne 1969a, p. 46, fig. 11 (gametophytic germlings), p. 47, figs. 12a, d (x-section, vegetative anatomy and unilocular organs), fig. 12b (x-section, vegetative anatomy and plurilocular organs), fig. 12c (surface view, unilocular organs), pl. 24, fig. a (photo: x-section, unilocular organs), fig. b (photo: uprights developing from a basal system), fig. c (photo: surface view, unilocular organs), figs. d, e (photo: habit)

Pacific Coast Distribution:

Atka I., Aleutian Is., Alaska (Okamura 1933b, p. 86) to Moss Beach, San Mateo, Co., Calif. (Wynne 1969a, p. 46); disjunct to Punta Blanca, Baja Calif. (R. Aguilar Rosas et al. 1984, p. 161)

Taxonomy:

Wynne 1969a

Life History:

uprights macroscopic tubular plants with unilocular organs bear zooids which germinate to form a filamentous basal system. Uprights similar to parent plants grow from this basal system and bear unilocular organs. Other, much less common plants, of a more contorted morphology also occurred in culture. These plants bore plurilocular organs, and recycled directly. No sex has been found in this life history (Wynne 1969a, p. 45; also see Pedersen 1984)

Phenology:

plants are exclusively unilocular in the south, and unilocular and plurilocular in the north on separate plants (specimens seen by DeCew at UBC; also see Edelstein et al. 1970 for Atlantic plants)

Biology:

Scagel 1961, p. 528