Phyllophora sicula | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
(unranked): | Archaeplastida |
Division: | Rhodophyta |
Class: | Florideophyceae |
Order: | Gigartinales |
Family: | Phyllophoraceae |
Genus: | Phyllophora |
Species: | P. sicula
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Binomial name | |
Phyllophora sicula (Kützing) Guiry & L.M.Irvine
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Phyllophora sicula, the hand leaf bearer, is a small red marine alga.[1]
This small red alga grows to a length of 20 mm (0.8 in), erect from a disc shaped holdfast. It has a short, erect, terete stipe which expands as a flattened blade branching once or twice. The blades have a cartilaginous texture with a medulla of large cells within a cortex of one or two layers of small cells.[2][3]
Gametangial plants are unknown. Tetrasporangial patches occur in the center of the blade.[3]
It is found in rock pools of the lower littoral and in the sublittoral to depths of 12 m (39 ft).[3]
It is generally recorded from the southwest of Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.[3] The type locality is in Italy.[1]