Small fronds reddish-brown color; composed thallus of cylindrical, uncrossed axes that branch in dichotomous form giving rise to secondary branches bearing cystocarps. 

Original publication: Harvey, W.H. (1833). Div. II. Confervoideae; Div. III. Gloiocladeae. In: The English Flora of Sir James Edward Smith. Class XXIV. Cryptogamia. Vol. V. (or Vol. II of Dr. Hooker's British flora). Part I. Comprising the Mosses, Hepaticae, Lichens, Characeae and Algae. (Hooker, W.J. Eds), pp. 263-265, 265-266, 326-389, 389-405. London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans Paternoster-Row.
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Nomenclatural notes
Zuccarello & West (2006) cite the authority for this species as (Dillwyn) Greville

Kamenarska, Z., Ivanova, A., Stancheva, R., Stoyneva, M., Stefanov, K., Dimitrova-Konaklieva, S. & Popov, S. (2006). Volatile compounds from some Black Sea red algae and their chemotaxonomic application. Botanica Marina 49: 47-56.

Kapraun, D.F. & Dunwoody, J.T. (2002). Relationship of nuclear genome size to some reproductive cell parameters in the Florideophycidae (Rhodophyta). Phycologia 41: 507-516.

Maggs, C.A. & Hommersand, M.H. (1993). Seaweeds of the British Isles. Volume 1. Rhodophyta. Part 3A. Ceramiales. pp. xv + 444, 129 figs, map. London: HMSO.

Stuercke, B. & Freshwater, D.W. (2008). Consistency of morphological characters used to delimit Polysiphonia sensu lato species (Ceramiales, Florideophyceae): analyses of North Carolina, USA specimens. Phycologia 47: 541-559.

Zuccarello, G.C. & West, J.A. (2006). Molecular phylogeny of the subfamily Bostrychioideae (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta): subsuming Stictosiphonia and highlighting polyphyly in species of Bostrychia. Phycologia 45: 24-36.

Basionym
Conferva denudata Dillwyn

Type information
Type locality: Southampton, England (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996: 540).