Amansia glomerata
Rhodophyta, Rhodomelaceae
Authority: C. Agardh
Hawaiian name: none
Characteristic feature: Bushlike, dark red algae with a round central stipe and flattened blades.
Description: Plants averaging 6 cm tall, perennial, brownish red, drying dark brown to black; stem-like axes mostly naked below, branching one to several times dichotomously, each branch terminating in rosette of blades, spreading to 3 cm, these clustered and giving plants top heavy aspect; blades less than 1 cm long, rarely more than 3 mm wide, with margins serrated to spinose or smooth when sterile. Tetrasporangial stichidia frequently arranged pinnately on either side of blade margins, or 2 to several on short branchlets, 2 tetrasporangia per segment. Spermatangial heads in conspicuous clusters, curled on themselves. Cystocarps conspicuous along margins.
Habitat: Saxicolous on basalt and eroded coral, from low intertidal to shallow subtidal, also epiphytic on Halimeda incrassata to 30 m.
Hawaiian distribution: All main Hawaiian Islands, including North West Hawaiian Islands.
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