f
H a b . On rocks in the sea. Perennial. October to March. Not
unfrequent. Anglesea, Rev. H. Davies. Shores of Weymouth and
Cromer, Turner. Isle of Portland, Goodenough. Dover, Dillwyn.
Brighton, Mr Borrer. Lyme Regis, Mr Pigott. On the Devonshire
coast, abundantly, Mrs Griffiths. Bantry Bay, Miss Hutchins.
Orkney, Rev. C. Clouston. Frith of Forth.
Root an expanded disk. Fronds tufted, three to twelve inches iu
height, furnished with a cylindrical stem, as thick as small pack-thread,
generally two or three inches long, and then branched somewhat dicho-
tomously, the branches either simple or repeatedly divided, expanding
into nerveless, broadly wedge-shaped, often palmated, leaves or frondlets,
about an inch in length: the branches are often also set towards the
extremity with distichous wedge-shaped leaves, of various sizes, supported
on small foot-stalks. The branches are given off at no fixed
point, and at no regular angle ; being sometimes almost horizontal, at
others only slightly spreading. Fructification ovate capsules, supported
on short stalks, and arising from the branches, rarely from the leaves,
containing a mass of minute free roundish red seeds. On the leaves
are also frequently observed blood-red spots, several lines in length
and breadth, occupying both sides of the frond, which are occasioned
by a dense mass of vertical moniliform filaments [nemathecia, Ag.).
Nemathecia almost invariably occur in distinct individuals, both in this
and other Algce, but a solitary exception was discovered by Mrs Griffiths,
in a plant of the present species, which produced both nemathecia
and capsules in abundance ; a portion of this specimen is in my
possession. Substance cartilaginous, rather thin, semitransparent.
Colour a deep brownish, or livid purplish-red, paler at the extremity, and
in young plants purplish-pink: in decay greenish, and at length white.
In drying it does not adhere to paper, and scarcely changes colour.
Many varieties are produced by this species ; the principal of which
Mr Turner has thus defined :
g lacer ; leaves dichotomous, segments linear, apices acute.
y stellatus ; apices of the leaves cleft into very numerous narrow
segments.
'h fimbriatus ; leaves fringed at the margin.
£ latifolius; leaves membranaceous, semiorbicular, multifid in a
palmate manner, segments shortish, rounded at the apices.
( angustissimus ; leaves very narrow, nearly linear, in'egularly di
Tided, proliferous from th e margin.
Besides these varieties, another is mentioned by Mr Turner under
the name of roseus ; distinguished by a simple or nearly simple stem
expanded at its apex into a single, oblong, simple, leaf. It is represented
at m in Mr Turner’s plate. I have examined it carefully in a
growing state, and have succeeded in tracing it to C. Brodiæi. The
much thinner and more transparent frond, added to the truly cylindrical
stem, serve to distinguish this species from the preceding ones,
independently of the fructification. Its nearest affinity is the recently
discovered Sphcerococcus fiabellfolius of Bory, brought by
M. Durville from the coast of Chili, and which I consider as provisionally
belonging to this genus : the absence, however, of fructification,
and the distinctly fibrous root, render its real situation somewhat
uncertain. The stem of C. membranifolius is often nearly of the same
thickness to the very apex, and even the branches partake frequently
of the same character, and sometimes never expand into frondlets, so
that even when given off, as they sometimes are, at a right angle, they
seem rather a continuation, as it were, of the stem than true branches.
The leaves or frondlets have consequently, in many instances, especially
in old plants, the appearance of proliferous productions.
5. C h o n d r u s B r o d iæ i .
Stem cylindrical filiform somewhat dichotomous the branches expanding
into oblong mostly forked frondlets proliferous from their
marginal extremity, capsules spherical sessile at the apices of the
frondlets-
Sphoerococms Brodiæi, Ag . L y n g b . H y d r o p h . D a n . p . I I . t . 3 . Ag . S p . A lg . v . 1.
p . 239. S y s t. A lg . p . 213. G r e v . F I . E d in . p . 295.
Sphoerococcus membranifolius. In r e g a r d t o t h e s y n o n y m , S . Brodiæi, S p r e n g . S p . P I .
V. 4. p. 335.
Delessei'ia Brodiæi, L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 38.
Fucus Brodiæi, T u r n . H i s t . F u c . t . 72. S m . E n g . B o t. 1. 1966.
Fucus membranifolius, L am o u r . D is s e r t, p . 17* t . 21. f . 1. 2.
Var. /3 simplex', stem short, mostly simple, expanding into an oblong mostly simple, or
once forked rose coloured frond.
Fucus membranifolius, v a r . roseus, T u r n H i s t . F u c . t. 74. f- m.
H a b . On rocks in the sea, rare. Perennial. Winter and spring.
At Lossiemouth, on the east coast of Scotland, Mr Brodie. Opposite
Caroline Park, near Fdinburgh, Mr Stewart. Joppa and Portobello,
near Fdinburgh, Dr Richardson. Near Dundee, Rev. J. Macvicar.
Isle of Bute. Black Rocks, opposite Leith, plentiful. Var. g on the
Devonshire coast at Sidmouth, Torquay and elsewhere, Mrs Griffiths.
Root a flattened disk. Fronds tufted, one to eight inches in length.