Chara lucida Casanova & Karol, Austral. Syst. Bot.
Creators: name: Casanova, Michelle T.
name: Karol, Kenneth G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Charophyta
Charophyceae
Charales
Characeae
Chara
Chara lucida

description: Chara lucida (A.Braun) Casanova & Karol, Austral. Syst. Bot. 22: 28 (2014)   
(Fig. 10.)  
 Chara australis var. lucida A.Braun in C. F. O. Nordstedt, Abh. Königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1882: 106 (1883). Type: Northern Territory: Victoria River, s. dat., F.Mueller 5 (lecto: L!; isolecto: LD!, fide J.S.Zaneveld, Blumea 4: 127 (1940); isolecto: MEL); Northern Territory: Baines Creek, 1856, F.Mueller s.n. (remaining syn: LD!).   
 Chara australis f. tenerior Zaneveld, Blumea 4: 127 (1940). Type: Gulf of Carpentaria, 1856, F. Mueller s.n. (holo: B [destroyed; Wood (1965: 276)]; iso: L, LD).   
 Chara australis var. lucida f. typica Zaneveld, Blumea 4: 126 (1940), nom. inval.   
 Chara corallina f. lucida R.D.Wood, Taxon 11: 13 (1962), nom. inval.   
 Chara corallina f. lucida R.D.Wood, Rev. Characeae 1: 275 (1965), nom. inval., nom. alt.   
 Chara lucida R.D.Wood, Rev. Characeae 1: 769 (1965), nom. inval., nom. alt.   
 Dioecious. Plants flexible, transparent, often in tangled clumps, up to 200 mm tall, uncalcified (Fig. 15 a). Axes 0.35–0.7 mm wide (when flat and dried, narrower in fresh material), ecorticate, internodes 8–20 mm long, generally much shorter than the adjacent branchlets (Fig. 15 a). Stipulodes in a single row, 6–12 in total, usually fewer apparent, up to 0.5 mm long. Branchlets 6 or 7 in a whorl, ecorticate, 11–50 mm long, 0.3–0.6 mm wide, 4 or 5 cells long, basal branchlet cell up to 10 mm long (Fig. 15 b), branchlet end segments small, conical and acute, sometimes subtended by 1 or 2 bract cells, bract cells obscure or short (Fig. 15 c). Bracteoles obscure or short, occasionally up to 0.5 mm long. Fertile parts sometimes somewhat contracted with shorter branchlets and internodes. Specimens with only fertile branchlets were distinguished as form tenerior but recent collections (e.g. M. T.Casanova r758) have both long sterile and short fertile branchlets on the same plant. Gametangia sessile inside the base of the whorl and solitary, geminate or clustered at the lowest 1 or 2 branchlet nodes (Fig. 15 e). Oosporangia 0.9 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, coronula cells very short, obtuse. Oospores black, cylindrical, 600–670 µm long, 380–400 µm wide, 7 or 8 striae of low ridges (Fig. 15 f), ornamentation smooth to minutely granulate (Fig. 15 g), basal-cell impression 120–150 µm in diameter at the widest part, edges 95–100 µm long (Fig. 15 h). Antheridia from 400 to 850 µm in diameter. Vegetative reproduction not known. Chromosomes not known.   Distribution  
Tropical and subtropical Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory in freshwater dams, ponds, still rivers and lagoons. Also occurs in Papua New Guinea.  Etymology  
 From the Latin ‘ lucidus ’, meaning shining, clear, transparent. Zaneveld (1940) and Wood (1971) thought this referred to a shiny surface on the pressed specimens, but that feature is neither obvious nor consistent. More likely, it refers to the clear and transparent, almost colourless appearance (Nordstedt 1883) of the pressed type material.   Notes  
 The species can be distinguished as a totally ecorticate Chara species with narrow axes, distinguished from narrower morphs of C. australis by the short internodes in comparison with the branchlets. Distinguished from C. evanida by dioecy and the single end cells on the branchlet tips. Chara lucida forms tangled masses in warm waters, compared with the upright, turgid stems of C. australis in colder, deeper waters.   Specimens examined  
 NORTHERN TERRITORY: Mary-Ann Dam, 6 km NNE Tennant Creek, 7 Nov. 1988,  P. K. Latz 10993 (DNA, NT); Duckponds Waterhole, 80 km SE of Lajamanu, 12 May 2010,  C. Brock 900 (DNA, NT); Swamp SW of Elizabeth Downs Homestead, 23 June 1977,  L. A. Craven 4375 (DNA); Arafura Swamp, 20 May 1990,  M. J. Clarke 2259 (DNA); Cathedral Billabong, 20 July 1983,  P. McBride 8843 (DNA); Connelly’s Camp Waterhole, Benmara Station, 6 May 1984,  B. W. Strong 226 (DNA); Lake Ucharonidge, 22 Apr. 1991,  D. J. Parsons 136 (DNA); Manton Dam recreation area, 5 Sep. 2010,  M. T. Casanova r758 (MEL, NY); roadside borrow-pit on Arnhemland Highway,  M. T. Casanova r784 (B, MEL, NY); SW of Elizabeth Downs, Daly River region, 23 June 1977,  L. A. Craven 4375 (CANB); Oenpelli, 10 Oct. 1948,  R. L. Specht A110 (AD, MEL, NY); Katherine, 14 Feb. 1961,  H. S. McKee 8427 (CANB); Arafura Swamp, near Glyde River crossing, 23 Sep. 1998,  I. D. Cowie & C. P. Mangion 7985 (DNA); Koolpinyah Station, 8 May 1996, C. R. Michell & J. L.Egan 108              (DNA). QUEENSLAND: in Lagoon, Magoura Station, 18 July 1977, L. A. Craven 4782 (CANB).
description: Published as part of Casanova, Michelle T. & Karol, Kenneth G., 2023, Charophytes of Australia's Northern Territory - I. Tribe Chareae, pp. 38-79 in Australian Systematic Botany 36 (1) on page 64, DOI: 10.1071/SB22023, http://zenodo.org/record/10904227