Re-discovery of Mesogloea brasiliensis Montagne

Abstract

As is common, many plants described long ago havr llot beell reported since their first discovery. This is the case with many Brazilian species. As early as 1843, Montagne in his "Quatriemecenturie de plantes cellulaires éxotiques nouvelles, Décade VII ", on p. 304-305 under n. O 68, gave a brief description of a new species, which he ascribed to the genus Mesogloea and to which he gave the specific name b1•asiliensis. The material had been collected by Gaudichaud (n. o 51 fide Kützing, 1849, p. 53.4) in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Three years later, the same author, reporting the algae collected during the "Voyage de la Bonite" (1846 Tome I p. 28-29) gave a long and more complete diagnosis of the same planto Unfortunately this seÇ!ond description, ,giving accurate microscopic measurements, was çompletely overlooked after its publicátion, until the presept writer, by happy chance, carne across this supplementary diagnosis. The references •so far found in the literature are concerned exclusively with the first description: cf.