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'Die capsules also appear to be similar. The smaller and slender variety
of Mr I'urner’s Fucus lichenoides differs far more in habit.
From the succulent and brittle nature of this species, it is easily injured,
and is apt to break even with its own weight, but after having
been once dried it becomes tough. Under the impression that it was
really the Fucus lichenoides which is eaten in the east, Mrs Griffiths,
among other experiments, made a pickle and a preserve from fresh
specimens, and in both cases it proved excellent.
(ÏENUS XXXV. CHONDRUS, Stachh. Lamour. Tab. XV.
(ÌEN . C h a r . Frond cartilaginons, dilating upwards into a
Hat, nerveless, dicliotoinously divided frond, of a purplish
or livid red colour. Fructification subspherical capsules
in tbe substance of tbe frond (rarely supported on little
stalks), and containing a mass of minute free seeds.
The type of this genus, first suggested by Stackhouse, and afterwards
confirmed and established by Lamouroux, is the Fucus crispus
of Linnæus. The species are characterised by a scutate root, a stem
cylindrical at the base, and expanding into a flat frond, without a midrib,
the general outline of which, is usually roundish or fan-shaped :
the whole is divided in a dichotomous manner, the segments either
linear or dilated upwards. The fructification is mostly situated in the
disk of the segments, and more or less imbedded in their substance :
in two or three exceptions the capsules are stalked, and in C. membranifolius
often spring from the stem. In C- Brodiæi the capsules
are sessile on the extremity of the frond. The capsules contain a mass
of very minute, roundish, free seeds, lying in a gelatinous nidus. No
other modification of the fructification has been observed, unless certain
incrassations in the frond of some species be regarded in that
light. These occur in C. membranifolius, Norvégiens and Brodiæi.
In the first of these species they are very common and conspicuous,
being large, and of a dark blood-red colour. In C. Norvégiens they
are commonly mistaken for the capsules. Under the microscope they
are evidently composed of a dense mass of vertical parallel moniliform
filaments, named by Agardh nemathecia ; and it is probable that some
degree of reproductive power ought to be ascribed to them. No
assistance, however, can be derived from them in the construction of
genera, at least not till we know more of the whole family, for they
are present in Phyllophora rubens and in Gigartina Griffithioe and
plicata. The substance of the Chondri is for the most part between
horny and cartilaginous, thick, and more or less opake. In C. membranifolius
it is thinner, and between cartilaginous and membranaceous.
The colour is often almost a black purple or brownish-red,
hut whatever the shade of red or purple may be, there is a peculiar livid
hue when fresh, except in C. Brodiæi (which is a doubtful Chondrus),
where it is a purer red. In' decay, some species are apt to acquire a
rusty red colour ; some become greenisli, but at length most of them
change to a yellowish-white.
The generic name is characteristic of the substance of the frond,
being derived from the Greek word signifying cartilage. In Agardh’s
system all the species belong to his vast genus Sphoerococcus-.
1. C h o n d r u s m a m il l o s u s ,
Frond somewhat channelled dichotomous the segments linear-wedge-
shaped, capsules spherical scattered on the disk of the fi-ond and supported
on little short stalks,
Sphcerococcus mamillosus, A g . S p . A lg . v . 1. p . 260. S y s t. A lg . p . 220. L y n g b . H y d r o p h .
D a n . p . 14. t . 5. G r e v . F I . E d in . p . 295. S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4. p . 336.
Fucus mamillosus, 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 . 174. T u r n . S y n . F u c .
p . 237. H is t. F u c . t . 218. S m . E n g . B o t. t . 1054.
Fucus pohjmorphus, io\xxt\i s e r ie s , L am o u r . D is s e r t, p . 3 . 1 . 17. L 3 7 - 1 . 18. f . 38.
Fucus echinatus, S ta c k h . N e r . B r i t . p . 65. t. 12.
H a b . On rocks and stones in the sea. Perennial. Winter. Common
on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland.
Root scutate. Fronds tufted, three to eight inches high, cylindrical
at the base, hut immediately beginning to flatten and expand insensibly
into a plane frond, divided from near the base in a regularly
dichotomous manner, the segments divaricated, one to four lines in
width, in the lower part of the fi-ond channelled, but towards the extremities
quite flat, and dilated. Fructification, spherical capsules, of
the size of turnip-seed, on short peduncles, produced copiously on the
disk of the upper or broader segments, and containing a mass of minute
roundish red seeds. Substance tough and cartilaginous. Colour
a rich deep brownish purple, semitransparent, and often pinkish at the
ends; sometimes a pale semitransparent greenish-brown ; in passing to
i u