Linear Row Research Articles

A Contribution to our Knowledge of Splachnidium

1. The initial row of Splachnidium is similar in origin and development to the "initial" of the Fucaceae, except that in Splachnidium it involves an entire linear row of thallus tissue; it may or may not include a terminal hair; and it accompanies vegetative as well as reproductive activity. 2. It seems unwise to place Splachnidium under a separate family; rather is it preferable to retain it under the Fucaceae, regarding it as a primitive member of that group for the following reasons: (a) it closely resembles the Fucaceae in the structure of the thallus, but has an apical meristem in place of a segmenting apical cell with consequent dichotomy; (b) true conceptacles are present which in origin and development are of the same general type as those of the Fucaceae, but are scattered indefinitely over the entire plant body; (c) the reproductive sacs may prove to contain isogamous gametes.