Chondria armata

Thallus branched, rigid, coarse, bushy, 3-6 cm high, dark red to yellowish-brown with tips lighter. Erect branches arising from short, firm stalk, to 3 mm diam. Branching alternate on all sides. Branches cylindrical, naked in the lower portion and covered with branches above. Branchlets fusiform, with sharply pointed tips, slightly tapering or not to the base, occasionally basally constricted. Sporangia immersed, spherical, (40)-80(-110) μm diam., tetrahedrally divided, develop in the upper portions of branchlets. Attachment by fleshy holdfast and short creeping stolons. Growing on rocks, dead corals, in the lower intertidal and upper subtidal zones exposed to moderate and strong wave action.

Note: This species is used for food and in folk medicine; anthelmintic.

Indian and Pacific Oceans. In countries of the Asia-Pacific Region: China, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippine, Australia and New Zealand.