''Polysiphonia brodiei'' (Dillwyn) Sprengel, now generally spelled "brodiaei", as it is named after James Brodie
[Hardy, F.G. and Guiry, M.D. 2003. ''A check-list and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland''. p 26. The British Phycological Society. ] is a species of red algae in the
Rhodophyta
Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...
. It grows in tufts up to 36 cm long.
[Maggs, C.A. 1993. ''Seaweeds of the British Isles. Volume 1. Rhodophyta Part 3A Ceramiales.'' The Natural History Museum, London. ]
Description
''Polysiphonia brodiaei'' is a dark brownish purple algae
[Harvey,W.H. 1841. ''A Manual of The British Algae.'' John van Voorst.] growing as tufts consisting of branched of axial cells surrounded by 6 - 8 periaxial cells all of the same length. These branches become