Description: Arising from a discoid holdfast to 15 cms long. Frond terete becoming somewhat compressed and branching dichotomously a few times. Cystocarps appear as swellings on the younger branches.

Habitat: Rare. Epilithic in the upper sublittoral.

Distribution: On southwestern shores of the British Isles: Devon, Cornwall in England, Pembrokeshire in Wales, Cork in Ireland and the Channel Islands. Europe: Azores, Portugal, Spain and France. Further afield: Canary Islands and South Africa.

Similar Species: Furcellaria lumbricalis and Polyides rotundus are similar but not compressed. The cystocarps of G.pistillata are distinctive.

Distribution Map from NBN: Gigartina pistillata at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Gigartina pistillata at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.

WoRMS: Gigartina pistillata at World Register of Marine Species. Accepted name: Gigartina pistillata (S.G.Gmelin) Stackhouse, 1809. AphiaID: 145626.

Classification: Biota; Plantae; Biliphyta; Rhodophyta; Eurhodophytina; Florideophyceae; Rhodymeniophycidae; Gigartinales; Gigartinaceae; Gigartina