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Rhodophyta · Red Seaweed

Ptilota asplenioides

(Esper) C.Agardh
Phylum
Rhodophyta
Class
Florideophyceae
Order
Ceramiales
Family
Wrangeliaceae

Ptilota asplenioides

Sea fern

Authority
(Esper) C.Agardh
Thallus is bright to dark red, shiny, coarsely branched, fern-like, reaching 40 cm (15 in) tall with a tough discoidal holdfast. Ultimate branchlets are flattened, in opposite pairs, with one branch remaining short, unbranched, with serrate margins. The opposite branch is initially shorter but has the potential to become a long, indeterminate branch or to produce sporangia.

Habitat

This perennial is found on rock or on larger algae in the low intertidal to shallow subtidal of semi-exposed habitats.

North Pacific Distribution

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, Alaska to Oregon; Japan; Russia

Former scientific names

Neoptilota asplenioides, Fucus asplenioides, Plumaria asplenioides

Similar taxa

Ptilota hypnoides lacks serrated margins; other Ptilota spp.

References

Last updated December 26, 2010

Photos