Notes On Early Collections and the Distribution Of the Red Alga Cumathamnion sympodophyllum

2008·2.5 MB·English

by  Michael J Wynne

Madrono, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 248-250, 2008
NOTES ON EARLY COLLECTIONS AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RED
ALGA CUMATHAMNION SYMPODOPHYLLUM
Michael Wynne
J.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Herbarium,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
mwynne@umich edu
.
Abstract
Specimens (in FH and PC) of Cumathamnion sympodophyllum M.J. Wynne and K. Daniels
(Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta)madebyC. G. PringleatCapeMendocino,northernCaliforniain 1882
are the first known collections of this rare monospecific genus. A collection (US) made by E.Y.
Dawson from Trinidad Head, Humboldt County, and reported in 1965 as a "very compact, short-
bladed" formofDelesseriadecipiensJ. Agardh is re-determined to be C. sympodophyllum. Records of
C. sympodophyllum from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (Canada) are based on one
collectionfromBritishColumbia,whichcannotbeverified. Thistaxonismostlikelyrestrictedtovery
exposed lower littoral rocky outcrops ofSonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties in California.
Key Words: Cumathamnion sympodophyllum, biogeography, endemic, marine algae, Rhodophyta.
A recent visit to the National Museum his earliertrips to California. However, according
d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (PC) allowed me to to information at the on-line site Consortium of
find an interesting algal specimen held in the Cahfornia Herbaria (http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/
Bomet and Thuret Herbarium. The specimen consortium/), Pringle collected in Mendocino
[filed in the Pteridium folder as "106-2-7" with County during the first two weeks of August,
the number "TA 21844"] bore the following label 1882.
data: '"Delesseria pleurospora Harv. Cape Men- The record of Pteridium (or Delesseria) pleur-
docino, Cal. leg. C. G. Pringle", and in adifferent ospora does not appear to have entered into the
hand: "Farlow 1883" and "Herbarium G. algal literature for California or the Pacific coast
Thuret", with a handwritten note, apparently (Anderson 1891, 1894; Abbott and Hollenberg
by Bomet: "Je ne reconnais ni I'espece ni le genre 1976). Delesseria pleurospora (Harvey 1855) was
de cette algue." I next requested that staffat the described from New Zealand and was variously
Farlow Herbarium check for any other material transferred to Membranoptera (Kuntze 1891),
of this Pringle collection in their holdings, and Pteridium (Agardh 1898), Hydrolapatha (Kuntze
they located one dated "1882" (Fig. 1). These 1898), and Nitophyllum (Laing 1927). I regard it
specimens, with densely congested branching that as conspecific with Schizoseris dichotoma (Hook-
is pectinately arranged in the final orders and er f. et Harvey) Kylin, a species with a
with thickened, fleshy (cartilaginous), denuded distribution restricted to the Southern Hemi-
primary axes, are clearly identifiable as Cu- sphere (Papenfuss 1964; Ricker 1987; Ramirez
mathamnion sympodophyllum M.J. Wynne & K. and Santelices 1991; Adams 1994).
Daniels (Wynne and Daniels 1966), and they In 1965 Ken Daniels and I were identifying
represent the earliest known collection of this algal specimens that we had collected from
taxon. Mendocino City in northern Cahfornia and were
Cyrus Guernsey Pringle was one of the most planning to describe some of our specimens as
prolific plant collectors of all time, having representing a new genus and species. At that
collected and distributed more than 500,000 time E. Yale Dawson, Curator of Algae at the
specimens that he collected from the United Smithsonian Institution, published a manual to
States, Canada, and Mexico (Davis 1936). In the marine algae ofHumboldt County (Dawson,
1880, Pringle made his first trip to the Pacific 1965). He had taught a course at Humboldt State
Slope, working as a botanical collector for the College [now Humboldt State University] that
American Museum of Natural History, making summer, and it seemed possible that he may have
general collections for Asa Gray, and exploring come across the same alga that we were
the forests of the region for the United States proposing to name as new to science. So on
Census Department. He collected extensively in October 25, 1965, I wrote to him, telling him that
the Pacific states and in Mexico between 1880 our purported undescribed genus at first glance
and 1909 (Stafleu and Cowan 1983). His biogra- resembled Delesseria decipiens but had a distinc-
phy by Davis (1936) contains the diaries of his tive sympodial development. I asked if he might
collecting trips to Mexico (1885 1909) but not of have obtained such an alga in his Humboldt
2008] WYNNE: DISTRIBUTION OF RED ALGA CUMATHAMNION SYMPODOPHYLLUM 249
(MICH, UBC, UC); 30 July 1965, Daniels &
Wynne Wynne 430), Type collection: Holotype
(
(UC 1318217); isotypes (MICH, UBC); 6 July
1966, on rocks among Lessoniopsis littoralis,
Wynne 777 (MICH, UC, US); 2 June 1973,
Young 624 (AHFH 84533 in UC, MICH),
epiphytic on Lessoniopsis littoralis. Point Cab-
rillo, north ofMendocino City, 20 June 1974, De
Cew s.n. (UC 1601561). Fort Bragg, May 1988
(NCC). Sonoma Co., south side of Horseshoe
Cove, Bodega Marine Laboratory, July 1978, De
Cew s.n. (UC 1601558).
Collecting History
Cumathamnion sympodophyllum was first de-
scribed from a single locality, Mendocino City,
Mendocino County, CA. Waaland (1973) report-
Fig. 1. Ciimathamnion sympodophyllum. Collection ed it from "Botany Beach" [= Botanical Beach]
made by C. G. Pringle in 1882 from Cape Mendocino, near Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, British
California. (FH). Columbia, Canada. In their marine algal flora of
California, Abbott and Hollenberg (1976) re-
County collections that were not yet determined ferred to this taxon as "Rare, low intertidal,
that matched our alga. He responded (October Vancouver I., Br. Columbia; and on rocks
29, 1965), saying that he had not come across exposed to heavy surf, Mendocino Bay, Calif,
anything other than Delesseria decipiens and (type locality)". They did not cite any additional
collections.
Membranoptera multiramosa N.L. Gardner, "al-
Based on Waaland's (1973) report from
mthaoyughhatvheeregoitsttehne pionstsoibitlhietsyethcaotllseoctmieotnhsinugnnelos-e Vancouver Island, Cumathamnion has entered
tcaiscee.d."AAfsewityteuarrnsedlatoeurt,I twhaats pornovaedvistiot bteo tthhee Winatsohitnhgetolnite(raWtiurdedofwosronBrit1i9s7h5;CoSlcaugmebliaetanald.
Herbarium ofthe Smithsonian Institution check- 1986). It is included in an on-line "working list
ofraremarine algae" forthe State ofWashington
ingthe collections ofDelesseriaceae. In the folder
of Delesseria decipiens, I came upon material of f(lMouramfoofrdOr2e0g0o4n),. IPnhitnhneeiry l(is1t9s77o)f maanrdinHeanaslgeanl
Cumathamnion sympodophyllum that he had
misidentified as D. decipiens, namely, a collection (1997) included Cumathamnion in a list ofspecies
that occur south and north of Oregon but have
from Trinidad Head, E.Y. Dawson 25297 (US).
yet to be found within Oregon. Citing the Hansen
Interestingly, in his manual under Delesseria
decipiens Dawson (1965, p. 39) referred to "some i(n1d9i9c7a)tepCubulmiactahtiaomnn,ioGnuiarsyocacunrdrinGguiirnyOr(e2g0o0n7.)
very compact, short-bladed forms with coarse
Waaland (1973) reportedly deposited voucher
axes occur on heavily beaten cliff faces at specimens in the herbaria of the Department of
Trinidad Head", while the label data include this Botany and that of the Friday Harbor Labora-
phrase: "An atypical form on heavily dashed cliff tories, University of Washington, but no such
face". The specimens are indeed very compact voucher specimens are now present in either
and short but clearly represent C. sympodophyl- herbarium. In 1995 Waaland wrote to me that in
lum. an office move the specimens were lost prior to
Specimens Examined his having deposited them in either of those
herbaria. In light ofthe lack ofany specimens of
U.S.A., California. Humboldt Co., Trinidad C. sympodophyllum collected north of northern
Head, V4 mile north of the head opposite Coon California, it seems prudent to reconsider the
Island, 12 July, 1965, leg. Burnett = Dawson distribution of this rare alga. According to Silva
25297 (US); about V2 mile west of Trinidad (2004), the southern end-point in the distribution
Head, 12 July 1972, "on rocks w/in Postelsia & ofC. sympodophyllum is Bodega Head in Sonoma
Lessoniopsis'\ De Cew s.n. (HSC, MICH, UC County, northern California. According to Gab-
1601559). College Cove, north ofTrinidad Head, rielson et al. (2006), the presence of C. sympodo-
1 August 1975, De Cews.n. (UC 1601560). North phyllum in the local area (of Oregon, Washing-
Bidwell Point, Elkhead, Trinidad, 26 Sept. 1990, ton, British Columbia, and southeast Alaska)
\ De Cews.n. (UC 1601557). Mendocino Co., Cape "requires confirmation". I conclude that con-
Mendocino, 1882, C. G. Pringle s.n. (FH, PC); firmed collections of Cumathamnion sympodo-
Mendocino City, 4 June 1965, leg. Daniels, phyllum exist only for sites in Sonoma, Mendo-
McLaughlin & McLaughlin = Wynne 292 cino, and Humboldt Counties of northern
MADRONO
250 [Vol. 55
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