Chara baltica (Hartman) Bruzelius 1824

Publication Details
Chara baltica (Hartman) Bruzelius 1824: 11, 19

Published in: Bruzelius, A. (1824). Observationes in genus Charae, quae venia ampliss. Ord. Philos. Lund, respondente Eberhard Liljevalch. [Dissertation]. pp. [1]-24. Londini Gothorum: Ex Officina Berlingiana.

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Publication date: February

Type Species
The type species (lectotype) of the genus Chara is Chara vulgaris Linnaeus.

Status of Name
This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.

Basionym
Chara hispida var. baltica Hartman

Type Information
Type locality: Böda, Sweden; (Hartman 1820: 376) Lectotype (Böda harbour; designated by Wood, 1965: 150): Dr. Christ. Stenhammer ; 10/1816 ; S; Artdatabanken 90,308 (Wood & Imahori 1965: 150)

Origin of Species Name
Adjective A (Latin), pertaining to the Baltic Sea.

General Environment
This is a brackish species.

Description
The plants are up to 50 cm long, they are not encrusted and therefore green. The axis is to 0.5 -1 mm in diameter. The branchlets are 6-11 in a whorl, each with 6-9 segments. The stem cortex is diplostichous, tylacanthous. The spine cells are normally solitary, occasionally in pairs and usually shorter than the stem diameter. The stipulodes are in two regular rows. The bract cells are 5-7 and the bracteoles are longer than the oogonium. The plant is monoecious. The gametangia are conjoined at the lowest 1-3 branchlet nodes. The oogonium is up to 1.2 mm long. The oospore is black. The antheridia are up to 500-800 m in diameter. Multicellular bulbils are found in the autumn.

Habitat
Chara baltica is a brackish water species, found in salinity between 2- 10 PSU. The species is frequent in the Baltic Sea, and is elsewhere found in coastal lagoons and fiords. It grows on muddy or sandy bottom, from 0.1  4 m depth. C. baltica has both annual and perennial forms, depending on the depth of growth. The annual forms hibernate by bulbils or oospores, while the perennial forms has oospores, swollen nodes Nacktfüssige Zweige or green plants. Fertile plants are found from June to October, but the fertility is normally low. Ripe oospores can be found from July.

Created: 11 April 2002 by M.D. Guiry.

Last updated: 08 January 2025

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Distributional note
"Chara baltica is probably restricted to Europe (see Fig. 20.5) and Greenland (Langangen and Bennike, 1997). The species was reported from Bolivia and Brazil (Braun and Nordstedt, 1882; Hasslow, 1934), but these records have been doubted as no herbarium material seems available (Bicudo, 1977; García, 1993; Wood, 1965; see also Langangen et al., 1996). Confusion with other taxa such as the South American Chara andina seems probable (Blindow et al., 2018). Collections from Bolivia (in L and BM) were revised as C. leptosperma or C. andina, respectively (own observations). C. baltica was also described from several sites in Argentina, but plants collected from the Mediterranean area were used as reference (García, 1993, 1994). A collection from Mongolia (in BM) was redetermined as C. papillosa (own observations)." (Blindow & al. 2024: 325). - (08 January 2025) - M.D. Guiry

Conservational note
In the national Red Lists, Chara baltica is assessed as Endangered in the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Germany and Lithuania, as Vulnerable in Britain and Poland and as Near Threatened in Denmark. Because of its frequent occurrence, the species is not included in the Swedish, Finnish and Estonian Red Lists. It is assessed as LC (Least Concern) in the European Red List. ... In the UK, eutrophication is the main factor threatening Chara baltica in its last remaining English sites in the eastern Norfolk Broads and it has caused the loss from several other sites in this lake system. In Kent, the species disappeared due to eutrophication and/or salinity changes. Loss from its sites in Dorset was caused by a reduction in salinity due to natural landscape changes (build up of dunes). Increasing salinity caused its disappearance in Orkney but the site has subsequently been impacted by eutrophication causing increased algal cover, flotsam accumulations and the development of planktonic algal blooms." (Blindow & al. 2024: 326-7). - (08 January 2025) - M.D. Guiry

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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 08 January 2025. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 02 April 2025

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