Porphyra tenera Kjellm.

Notes on some Chinese Marine -&lgae
Tseng, U.K. Lingnan Sci. Journ.
17: no.	^ Oct. 8, 1938
Porphyra tenera Kjellm.	s^f
Jap. Art. af Slägt. Porphyra, p. 35. pi. 1, fig. 6, pi. 4, fig. 2-5, pi. 5, fig.
22-26, 1897; Ueda, Jap. Porphyra p. 20, pi. 1, fig. 4, 12, pi. 3, fig. 14, pi. 4,
fig. 1-10, pi. 14, fig. 2-3, pi. 15', fig. 1-3. pi. 16, fig. 1-2, 1931.
When I mentioned the present species from Swatow, Kwangtung
Province (Tseng, 1935). T was not entirely without douEt. Having
now re-examined my Swatow specimens more carefully, I arrived at
^	7 sentj: Some f htntse Munnt Ahjae	595
the conclusion that they cannot be referred to tenera Kjellm. I
ciin, however, still unable to refer them to the species satisfactorily.
L’. tenera Kjellm. should, therefore, be removed from the algal list
of Kwangtung.
In the meantime, 1 have been able to confirm the presence of the
present species on the China coast, although on a part entirely
different from Swatow, namely, Tsingtao and Dairen. At Tsingtao
where I have been able to observe it in the living condition very
carefully, it begins to appear in the first or second week of February
when the water temperature begins to rise. About a month later,
mature specimens have been collected although by no means
abundant. Its growth is most luxuriant in April and then declines
gradually until early June when only a few fragments in the lower
litoral or sublitoral belts can be found. It disappears totally in the
latter part of June.
At its earlier stages, the frond is of a linea--, oblanceolate shape,
the growth being- more in a longitudinal direction. When it is about
t> 10 cm. long, the growth begins to become nearly equally active on
both directions and the frond begins to broaden and broaden until
a more or less orbiculate shape results. Plants as much as 26 cm.
long and 24 cm. broad are not uncommon. The color of the frond
also varies with age, being light pink when young, gradually
turning to a darker purple when older. It is attached by means of
a cushion-shaped holdfast as are most other members of this genus.
1 he edge of the frond is undulate and when examined microscopic-
ally, it is seen to be entire, without any trace of microscopic teeth.
The frond is monostromatic, about 15-25 n in the vegetative,
25-30« in the sporocarpic, and slightly thicker still in the antheridial
part. The vegetative cells are about H times as high as broad. The
plant is monoecious and the sporocarps and the antheridia are found
intermingled at the marginal portion of the frond. At first, the
reproductive organs are found only at the tip and along the margin.
Then, the formation of these sexual organs proceeds gradually
inward and downward. When mature, the marginal portion is
colorless, consisting of antheridia, together with an empty network
of cell walls of the sporocarps and antheridia which have already
discharged their contents. Each mature sporocarp contains eight
carpospores in two tiers of four each, the formula for the cell
division being 8 ( — — . Each mature antheridium contains 64
spermatia in four tiers of sixteen each, the formula being 64 (—-7—7-).
^ -i ; -Jt « 1 ' *
The identification of the present species is made on the basis of
the above cited works of Kjellman and Ueda, supplemented by a
careful, comparative, morphological study of several Japanese
specimens of the species, collected and identified by Profe««or S.
596	Linynan Science Journal	1938
Leda of the Imperial Fisheries Institute, Tokyo, Japan. Kjellman,
in describing the present species, defines ;t as dioecious. This fact
had given the Japanese phycologists a great perplexity^ since they
find that their l'/J. tenera'' i.^ monoecious instead. I1 ortunately,
Yendo (1916) had been able to examine Kjellman’s type specimen ana
was thus enabled to solve the problem: ‘But by an actual examina-
tion of the original in the Botanical Museum at L'psala, 1 could
prove it to be monoecious.” Thus, the greatest obstacle in the
iuteipretation of the present species has been removed. This is the
species commonly cultivated on a large scale in Japan and
undoubtedly the plant Ueda identified and describes in detail and,
as such, should be the same as that of Yendo and consequently that
of Kjellman.
The present species resembles L1. leucosticta Thur. ( = /'. atropur-
[jurta l>e Toni) so much that the problem whether they represent the
same species or different ones will always exist unless studies on
both type specimens are carefully made. The formulae for the
division of the antheridia and sporocarps given by lius (1902) loi
F leucosticta Thur. and by Ueda (1931) for the present species are
exactly identical. This will naturally favor the amalgamation of
the two species. Ueda, I.e., however, prefers to keep Kjellman s
name for the Japanese plant on the basis of certain minor characters.
Yendo, I.e., on the other hand, decides that F. tenera Kjellm. is
identical with P. leucosticta Thur. For the time being, I prefer to
follow Ueda’s opinion in keeping this distinct from the European L‘.
leucosticta Thur. until a comparative study of both type specimens
can be carefully made.
Habitat: On rocks, stones, etc., in the litoral belt. Isan-chiue,
Tsingtao, in March {Tseng 1800, 1863); Dairen, in May (C. I'. Liu.,
s.n.).
Distribution: -Japan; Korea.
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