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ways much attenuated at their insertion. The stem often appears to
be compressed, especially in large specimens, and also to be tubular :
there is not, however, a real cavity.
Some specimens presented to me by Mrs Griffiths, gathered hy herself
in Devonshire, are four inches high, the main branches comparatively
few and straggling, naked towards their insertion on the stem,
very bushy upwards, the ramuli very narrow, and between club-shaped
and lanceolate. Other specimens from the coast of Cornwall do not
exceed an inch in height, and appear to have grown exposed to the
sun in very shallow rocky pools.
* * BamuH elliptkai, rarely somewhat elongated and contracted.
2. G a s t r id iu m o v a u e . Tab. XIV.
Frond cartilaginous dichotomous beset with elliptical obtuse simple
gelatinous ramuli tapering at tlieir base, capsules spherical with a pellucid
border.
Chondria ovalis, Ag . S p . -Alg. v . 1. p . 348. S y s t. A lg . p . 204. S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4. p . 342.
Fucus ovalis, H u d s . F I. A n g . p . 573. S m . E n g . B o t. t . 711- T u r n . S y n . F u c . p . 30-
H is t. F u c . t . 81.
Fucus sedoides, G o o d e n , a n d W o o dw . in L in n . .T r a n s , v . .3. p . 117- S t a c k h . N e r . B r i t ,
p . 67, t . 12.
Gigartina veniiicularis, L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 48.
Gigartina ovata, L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 48.
H a b . In the sea, attached to rocks and other Algce. Annual. June
to August. St Michael’s Mount, and elsewhere, on the coast of Cornwall,
Turner. Fxmouth, Goodenough. Dawlish, Mr Pigott. Torquay,
Budleigh and Sidmouth, Mrs Griffiths. All along the coast of De vonshire,
Turner. Weymouth, Mr Bryer. At Christ Church, Hudson.
Coast of Suffolk, Mrs Fowler. Scarborough, Hudson. Pools in Caswell
Bay, Dillwyn. Plentiful in Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins. North
of Ireland. Mr Templeton. Little Isles of Jura, Lightfoot.
Root a small disk accompanied with a few creeping fibres. Fronds
tufted, each rising with a stem three to ten inches in height, as thick
as small twine, irregularly dichotomous, the lower part naked, clothed
above with numerous elliptical imbricated leaf-like sessile ramuli, about
two lines in length, obtuse at the apex, and much attenuated at their
base. These ramuli are genei'ally simple, but in some specimens they
ai-e elongated to half an inch or more, ;contracted three or four times,
and even furnished with a few minute branchlets at the contractions,
exactly as in G. kaliforme. Fructification ; 1. spherical minute capsules,
situate on the ramuli, with a pellucid border, and containing a
dense deep-red mass of radiating wedge-shaped seeds ; 2. ternate granules
imbedded in the ramuli on distinct plants.
Substance cartilaginous in the stem, tender and gelatinous in the
ramuli, adhering to paper in drying. Colour pale transparent pinky
red, varying to purplish red, and in decay to green and white.
Notwithstanding its different appearance, this curious plant is more
nearly related to G. kaliforme than any other British species. Specimens
in my possession, gathered by Mrs Griffiths in Devonshire, pie-
sent the elongated contracted ramuli I have described, and when these
are again set with the commencement of whorls of smaller ramuli, a
fragment might easily be mistaken, as Mr Turner has justly observed,
for G. kaliforme. The ramuli, in their ordinary simple state, occasionally
assume an oblong, and sometimes an ovate form. A plant, found
by Mr Turner, adhering to the root of Himanthalia lorea, and considered
by him as a variety of this species, has the ramuli clustered,
nearly globular, and scarcely a line in diameter. Agardh conjectures
that it may be his Chondria uvaria (the Gastridium uvarium of my
arrangement), which is not improbable; but in the absence of authentic
specimens, I prefer leaving the question to be decided by future
investigation.
* * * Frond contracted as i f jointed.
3. G a s t r id iu m k a l i f o r m e .
Frond elongated tubular contracted as if jointed, branches whorled,
capsules spherical with a pellucid border.
Gastridium kaliforme, L y n g b . H y d r o p h . D a n . p . 70*
Chondria kaliformis, Ag . S p . A lg . v. 1. p . 355. S y s t. A lg . p. 207- S p r e n g . S p . P I . v. 4.
p . 342.
Gigartina kaliformis, L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 49.
Fucus kaliformis, G o o d e n , a n d W o o dw . in L in n . T r a n s , v . 3. p . 206. t . 18. S m . E n g .
B o t. t . 640. T u m . S y n . F u c . p . 377- H i s t . F u c . t . 29.
H a b . In the sea, on rocks and other Algce. Annual. June to
September. Coast of Anglesea, Rev- H. Davies. Falmouth, St Michael’s
Mount, Plymouth, and Mount Fdgecombe, Turner. Torquay,
Budleigh and Sidmouth, Mrs Griffiths. Fxmouth, Goodenough.
Dawlish, Mr Pigott. Weymouth, Stackhouse. Neai- Swansea, Dillwyn.
Near Christ Church, Hudson. Brighton, Mr Borrer. Near
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