Phyllophora sicula

Phyllophora sicula, the hand leaf bearer, is a small red marine alga.

Description
This small red alga grows to a length of 20 mm, erect from a disc shaped holdfast. It has a short, erect, terete stipe which expands as a flattened blade branching once or twice. The blades have a cartilaginous texture with a medulla of large cells within a cortex of one or two layers of small cells.

Reproduction
Gametangial plants are unknown. Tetrasporangial patches occur in the center of the blade.

Habitat
It is found in rock pools of the lower littoral and in the sublittoral to depths of 12 m.

Distribution
It is generally recorded from the southwest of Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. The type locality is in Italy.