- Blue markers: specimen records
- Yellow marker: type locality, if present
- Red markers: endpoints of range from literature
Farlowia J. Agardh 1876
Thalli erect, solitary or in clusters, arising from small, discoid bases. Erect portion freely branched, the branching distichous, alternate to subopposite. Branches compressed, with or without percurrent axes; on drying, some branches appearing to have midrib and broken lateral veins owing to formation of many rhizoidal filaments around axial strands. Cortex of compacted filaments in rows of 6-8 cells. Medulla of periclinally directed rhizoidal filaments grouped around uniaxial strand. Tetrasporangia rare, irregularly cruciately divided, forming irregular sori, scarcely modifying surrounding cortical cells. Spermatangia in superficial patches. Carpogonial branches and auxiliary cell branches of 10-18 cells. Carpogonium fusing with nutritive cell through a short process, producing 1 filament that connects with 1 or more successively remote intercalary auxiliary cells. Gonimoblasts small, formed in groups, raising thallus surface in irregular nemathecioid areas.
Farlowia mollis (Harv. & Bail.) Farl. & Setch.
Gigartina mollis Harvey & Bailey 1851: 372. Farlowia mollis (Harv. & Bail.) Farlow & Setchell, P.B.-A., 1895-1919 1901: no. 898; also P.B.-A., 1895-1919 1901: no. 1150; Smith 1944: 204; Abbott 1962a: 29. F. crassa J. Agardh 1876: 262.
Thalli 10-20 cm tall, bright red to blackish-red; main axis flattened, 1-3 mm wide, usually compressed; branches of higher orders frequently subcylindrical, soft to touch and slippery, predominately distichous, alternate; ultimate branches on rapidly growing thalli to 1 mm wide, becoming eroded on older thalli, then appearing paddle-shaped with smooth margins; obscure midrib and veins common to other 2 species usually not seen in this species; reproductive structures as for genus.
Locally frequent although usually as isolated thalli, saxicolous in sandswept areas, midtidal to subtidal (20 m), Alaska to San Diego, Calif. Also reported from Kurile Is. Type locality: Puget Sd., Wash.
Excerpt from Abbott, I. A., & Hollenberg, G. J. (1976). Marine algae of California. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. xii [xiii] + 827 pp., 701 figs.
