Sirocladium, a New Terrestrial Member of the Zygnemales

Abstract

This alga was collected by the writer from the Kumaon Hills, at an altitude of about 5500 feet, in September, I939. It was found on soft clay under an overhanging rock, at a distance of about IO feet from a small waterfall, growing in the form of dark green feltlike radial patches about I-2 cm. in diameter. Unlike some terrestrial species of Vaucheria and Oedogonium terrestris, it was never found in the form of mats. The moist clay on which it was growing received a light spray from the waterfall. The alga was shaded by an overhanging rock on the north and by the shade of a tree on the south, and was also protected by another rock, so that it never received direct sunlight.