Meristotheca papulosa (Montagne) J.Agardh 1872

    Thallus light to dark pink to dark red in colour, attached to the substratum by small discoid holdfast, 0.5-2 mm broad. Thallus fleshy, cartilaginous and flat 5–16 cm long 4-12 cm broad. Thallus shows small, cylindrical to slightly compressed stipe 0.3-1.2 cm long and 0.8-4.5 mm broad, rarely indistinct. Fronds foliose, irregularly pinnately to palmately dissected lobes. Lobes flat, elongated or irregular with smooth surface in younger and rough or enrolled in mature thallus; margins entire to irregularly proliferate.

    Cells squares, spherical or elongated in surface view irregularly placed 3–14 µm broad. Cross section of the thallus shows a single layer of epidermal cells followed by 4–7 layers of cortex and central medulla. Epidermal cells small, isodiametric, 7–15µm wide and compactly arranged. Cortical cells spherical to stellate in shape, outer cortical cells comparatively smaller, 11–23 µm wide and inner cortical cells gradually increasing towards medulla, subspherical to elongate, 22–41 µm long. Medulla 130–240µm thick, cells elongated and tubular, occasionally joined, loosely interwoven, 78–185µm long and 5–23 µm in broad