A Comment on Gracilaria verrucosa (Huds.) Papenf. (Rhodophyta: Gigartinales)

Abstract

The life histories of Gracilaria verrucosa from England and from Vancouver Island, Canada, were completed in culture. Although representatives of the two populations were morphologically and anatomically indistinguishable, their chromosome numbers differed markedly, being n = 32 for British material and n = 24 for western Canadian plants. It is propounded that the Vancouver Island plants are not authentic G. verrucosa and, moreover, that this name may have been applied erroneously in other reports of the species from localities distant from the British Isles (type locality).