The marine algae of British Columbia and northern Washington: division Rhodophyta (red algae), class Rhodophyceae, order Rhodymeniales

Abstract

This is a floristic treatment of benthic marine red algae (Rhodophyta) in the order Rhodymeniales which occur in British Columbia and northern Washington. The following 12 species in 9 genera are recorded and illustrated: Botryocladia pseudodichotoma (Farlow) Kylin, Fauchea fryeana Setchell, Fauchea laciniata J. G. Agardh, Faucheocolax attenuata Setchell, Fryeella gardneri (Setchell) Kylin, Gastroclonium subarticulatum (Turner) Kützing, Lomentaria hakodatensis Yendo, Minium parvum Moe, Rhodymenia californica Kylin, Rhodymenia pacifica Kylin, Rhodymenia pertusa (Postels et Ruprecht) J. Agardh, and Rhodymeniocolax botryoidea Setchell. Rhodymenia stipitata Kylin is treated as a taxonomic synonym of Rhodymenia pertusa. Previous reports of Coeloseira parva Hollenberg from British Columbia and Leptofauchea auricularis Dawson and Leptofauchea pacifica Dawson from northern Washington were based on misidentifications or could not be confirmed. Also provided is a historical background of the Rhodymeniales. Keys to and descriptions of local taxa (at the ordinal, familial, and generic levels), as well as information on synonyms, location of type specimens, type localities, and what is known about the life histories, distribution, seasonality, and habitats of all local taxa, are provided. Rhodymenialean species occurring in British Columbia and northern Washington which are also reported in the California flora are listed, as are those which are restricted to one or the other flora. References are given and representative specimens cited that document our concepts of the taxa and their morphological variability, seasonality, and geographical distributions.