Ceramium californicum
J. AgardhDatabase links
- Blue markers: specimen records
- Yellow marker: type locality, if present
- Red markers: endpoints of range from literature
Illustration from DeCew's Guide to the Seaweeds of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California
Illustration from DeCew's Guide to the Seaweeds of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California
Ceramium Roth 1797
Thalli usually erect, sometimes partially or wholly prostrate, saxicolous or epiphytic; axes cylindrical, freely branched. Branches of all orders corticated in transverse bands at nodes, in continuous layer throughout, or continuously in main axis and intermittently in younger branches. Branching alternate, predominantly unilateral, or irregular, frequently appearing dichotomous. Branch apices usually forcipate, sometimes straight. Axial filament of large cells, each cutting off transverse band of corticating cells at upper end (node), with or without downward or upward growth of smaller, usually angular cells from corticating band. Chloroplasts many, discoid to fusiform to elongate, denser in smaller cells. Cells uninucleate. Tetrasporangia embedded in cortical bands or projecting from them, with or without surrounding sterile cells. Procarps with 1 or 2 4-celled carpogonial branches arising from fertile pericentral cell, this forming auxiliary cell after fertilization; connecting cell present or lacking. Gonimoblasts borne at nodes, usually terminating further growth there but initiating several sterile branchlets from below, these serving as an involucre; gonimoblast rounded, with 1-3 gonimolobes, surrounded by gelatinous envelope. All cells of gonimoblast becoming carposporangia.
Ceramium californicum J. Ag.
J. Agardh 1894: 45; Dawson 1962: 51.
Thalli dark rose, 2:7 cm tall, (150)400-600 µm diam., coarse, with 7 or 8 orders of branching, the last 4 orders corymbose or pyramidal; beset throughout with short, slender, proliferous branches of 1 or 2 orders; branch apices forcipate or nodding; cortications of branches ringlike, not spreading upward or downward, those on lower main axes with secondary corticating threads spreading close to next cortical band; internodal diam. of upper branches 0.5 to 0.8 times internodal length, that of main axes and lower branches about equal to length, to 1 mm diam.; tetrasporangia slightly emergent from upper portions of cortical band; spermatangia arising from marginal cells of cortical band; gonimoblasts axial, protected by arching sterile filaments.
Occasional, epiphytic on Gracilaria or other algae, low intertidal to subtidal (10 m), N. Wash. to Bahia Magdalena, Baja Calif., including Channel Is., Calif. Type locality: Santa Cruz, Calif.
Closely related to C. gardneri.
Excerpt from Abbott, I. A., & Hollenberg, G. J. (1976). Marine algae of California. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. xii [xiii] + 827 pp., 701 figs.
