Polysiphonia is a red algae, polysiphonous[1] and usually well branched, with some plants reaching a length of about 30 cm. They are attached by rhizoidsorhaptera[4] to a rocky surface or other alga. The thallus (tissue) consists of fine branched filaments each with a central axial filament supporting pericentral cells.[6] The number of these pericentral cells (4–24) is used in identification.[7][8][9]Polysiphonia elongata[10] shows a central axial cell with 4 periaxial cells with cortical cells growing over the outside on the older fronds.[1] Its cuticle contains bromine.[11]
Features used in identification include the number of pericentral cells, the cortication of main branches, constriction of young branches at their base, whether the branching dichotomousorspiral, and the width and length of thalli.
The life-cycle of the red algae has three stages (triphasic). In Polysiphonia it consists of a sequence of a gametangial, carpospoangial and tetrasporangial phases.[13][14][page needed] Male (haploid) plants (the male gametophytes) produce spermatia and the female plants (the female gametophytes) produce the carpogonium (the haploid carpogonium) which remains attached to the parent female plant. After fertilization the diploidnucleus migrates and fuses with an auxiliary cell. A complex series of fusions and developments follow as the diploid zygote develops to become the carposporophyte, this is a separate phase of the life-cycle and is entirely parasitic on the female, it is surrounded by the haploid pericarp of the parent female plant. The diploid carpospores produced in the carposporangium when released are non-motile, they settle and grow to form filamentous diploid plants similar to the gametophyte. This diploid plant is the tetrasporophyte which when adult produced spores in fours after meiosis. These spores settle and grow to become the male and female plants thus completing the cycle.[7][page needed][15][page needed]
^Recorded common names are olann dhearg, craonach, cúnach triosgar, cluaisíní, mileara, millreacha, salata tou yialou (σαλάτα του γιαλού) and lobster horns.
^ abStegenga, H., Bolton,J.J. & Anderson,R.J. (1997). Seaweeds of the South African West Coast. Bolus Herbarium Number 18.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Pedersén, M. E. E.; Roomans, G. M.; Hofsten, A. V. (1981). "Bromine in the Cuticle of Polysiphonia Nigrescens: Localization and Content". Journal of Phycology. 17: 105–108. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3646.1981.00105.x.
