On the Gracilaruceae of the seas around India

Taxonomic investigations of members of the family Gracilariaceae of the seas around India are very limited and many of the Gracilaria species hitherto reported from this area are inadequately described. During the course of studies on the agar-yielding seaweeds, different species of Gracilaria and Gracilariopsis were collected from the east and west coasts of India, Laccadives, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In this paper seventeen species and two varieties of Gracilaria and two species of Gracilariopsis are described in detail. The species of these two genera are as follows : Gracilaria arcuata v. typica Zanardini, G. arcuata V. attenuata var. nov., G. cacalia (J. Agardh) Dawson, G. canaliculata (Kuetzing) Sonder, G. corticata v. typica J. Agardh, G. corticatav. cylindrica var. nov., G. cylindrica Boergesen, G. disticha J. Ajjardh, G. edulis (Gmelin) Silva, G. foliifera (Forsskal) Boergesen, G.indica sp. nov., G. kanyakumariensis sp. nov., G. mannarensis sp. nov., G. millardetii (Montagen) J. Agardh, G. obtusa (Kuetzing) De Toni, G. opuntia (Svedelius) Durairatnam, G. textorii (Suringer) J. Agardh, G. verricosa (Hudson) Papenfuss, Gracilaria sp., Gracilariopsis megaspora Dawson and Gr. sjoestedtii (Kylin) Dawson.