Plants forming matted purplish-red tufts or a thin turf of sparingly branched, erect filaments, 5-10 mm long. Cells 3-4 times as long as broad. Cells with a single reticulate plastid without pyrenoids, later fragmented. Reproducing by tetrasporangia, mostly in winter. Monosporangia absent.

Turf-forming habit and association with upper intertidal, shaded habitats or Laminaria hyperborea stipes. Absence of monosporangia.

Harper, J.T. & Saunders, G.W. (2002). A re-classification of the Acrochaetiales based on molecular and morphological data, and establishment of the Colaconematales, ord. nov.. British Phycological Journal 37: 463-475.

Hollenberg, G.J. & Abbott, I.A. (1966). Supplement to Smith's marine algae of the Monterey Peninsula. pp. ix (xii), 1-130, 53 figs. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Lindeberg, M.R. & Lindstrom, S.C. (2010). Field guide to the seaweeds of Alaska. pp. [i-]iii-iv, 1-188, numerous col. photographs. Fairbanks: Alaska Sea Grant College Program.

West, J.A. (1969). The life histories of Rhodochorton purpureum and R. tenue in culture. Journal of Phycology 5: 12-21.

Zeng, C. (Tseng, C.K.), Luan, R., Chen, Z. & Li, W. (2000). Flora algarum marinarum sinicarum Tomus II Rhodophyta No. II Acrochaetiales Nemaliales Bonnemaisoniales. pp. [i-vii], i-xxiii, 1-180, , pls I-VIII. Beijing: Science Press.

Basionym
Byssus purpurea Lightfoot

Type information
Type locality: ‘Upon the base of the Abbott MacKinnon’s tomb in the ruined Abbey at Y-Columb-Kill’ Type: Probably destroyed (Conway & Knaggs, 1966) Notes: The Abbott MacKinnon’s tomb has now been enclosed and no trace of the original population remains (fide David Fewer).