Herbarium sheet showing Smithora growing as an epiphyte on Phylospadix
Smithora naiadum will by mid-summer turn much of the green surf grass Phyllospadix, a deep maroon color. This happens subtidally and in the deep tidepools on the west shore of Race Rocks. It is interesting to speculate at which point this epiphyte turns from being a harmless obligate epiphyte organism to one that is actually having a negative effect on the host plant as it increases the shading from sunlight.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Protoctista
Division Rhodophyta
Genus Smithora
Species naiadum
Common Name: Seagrass laver, red fringe {Smithora = after Gilbert Morgan Smith, a leading America botanist and phycologist, and a professor of botany at Stanford University}
See other members of the Phylum Rhodophyta
 Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File |
 The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Dec 2001-Luis Carlos M. PC yr 27 |