i lij.
Root a very minute disk. Fronds aggregated, six to twenty inches
long or more, of a roundish or broadly oblong figure, waved, and
sometimes lobed at the margin, frequently much perforated by marine
animals. Fructification, very minute quaternate granules densely
covering the whole frond. Substance extremely thin, but somewhat
opake, excessively tender. Colour a full bright herbaceous green, becoming
tinged witli brown in old age and decay. In drying, it does
not adhere perfectly to paper, but contracts and lacerates.
Althougii this species be the Uha latissima of the Flora Suecica,
it is not the plant described under that name in the Species Plantarum,
which Sir James F. Smith has ascertained, by the specimen in the
Linnean Herbarium, to be nothing more than Laminaria saccharina.
Most authors have confounded this and the following species together,
yet they are perfectly distinct. It is known by the'names of Green
Slolce, Green Laver, and Oyster-green, and is found on the coasts of
India, New Holland, South America, and the Cape of Good Hope.
According to Lightfoot, the Scottish Islanders ascribe to it an anodyne
virtue, and bind the leaves about the front and temples to assuage the
headach in fevers, and to procure sleep. This, too, is the Laver, says
Sir J. F. Smith, “ so often introduced at fashionable tables, within a
few years past, being stewed and seasoned with lemon-juice, which
moderates its salt bitterish flavour ‘ and sea-weed s c en tn or is this
dish unpleasant, after a short trial, to most palates. We suspect it to
have been originally contrived with a medical intention, for tbe benefit
of scrophulous patients, how numerous, alas ! in the gay cii cles of the
opulent and great.” It is inferior, however, to Forphyra Laciniata,
which is generally regarded as a delicacy, and is rarely taken when the
latter can be procured.
2. U l v a l a c t u c a .
Frond at first obovate saccate inflated at lengtli cleft down to the
base, tbe segments plane unequal laciniated semitransparent.
IHva lactuca, L in n . S p . P I . v . 2. p . IG ^ . L ig h t f . F L S c o t. p . 970. in p a r t . A g . S p . Alg.
V. 1. p . 409. S y s t. A lg . p . 189. L y n g b . H y d r o p h . D a n . p . 30. in p a r t . G r e v . C ry p t .
F I. t. 313.
H a b . In the sea, attached to rocks and stones, shells, corallines,
aud marine plants. Annual. May and June. Coast of Devonshire.
Shores of the Isle of Bute and Frith of Forth. '
2
Root a very minute disli. Fronds aggregated, three to six inche.s
in length, in the young state obovate and saccate, but very soon bursting
and lacerating, at lengtli cleft irregularly down to tbe liase, the
segments flat, variously laciniated and cut, somewliat waved. Fruc-
tijicaiion, quaternate granules covering tbe whole frond. Substance
slightly gelatinous, exceedingly thin and tender, semitransparent.
Colour a pale yellowish green. When dry it adheres so closely to paper
as to resemble a drawing, and the surface shines as if varnisiied.
Thin aud tender as is tbe frond of Ulva latissima, that of tbe present
species is much more so. It is also a smaller plant, and when
preserved in the bei'barium, infinitely more beautiful. In its growing-
state it is often very crowded ; and, on account of the jagged and cut
appearance wliich it presents—somewhat similar to endive, it has received
the name of Lettuce Laver. I doubt whether this species has
ever been brought to table. Like the last, it seems to have a wide
geographical range, having heen collected on the coasts of New Orleans
and New Holland. It is impossible to know what plant Sprengel
has in view in his edition of the Species Plantarum ; he has no Ulva
latissima ; and his two only references, the one to the Ulva lanceolata
of Linnæus, and the other to the SoleniaLinza of Agardh, cannot
surely be intentional.
3. U l v a L in z a .
Frond linear-lanceolate attenuated at each extremity waved at the
margin.
Ulva U n z a , L in n . S p . P I . p . 103,1. L ig h t f . F I . S c o t. p . 973. A g . S p . A lg . v . 1. p . 413.
L y n g b . H y c iro p h . D a n . p . 32. G r e v . F I . E d in . p . 299. S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4. p . 308.
Viva lanceolata, L in n . S y s t. N a t . p . 719.
Solenia L inza, Ag . S y s t. A lg . p . 185.
H a b . On rocks and stones in the sea. Annual. Summer. Slieer-
ness, Withering. On the beach near Sunderland, Mr Weighell. Near
Hartley, Northumberland, Mr Winch. Abundant in tbe Frith of
Forth.
Root a minute disk. Fronds aggregated, sublinear or linear-lanceolate,
six to eighteen inches or more in length, half an inch to one inch
and a half in breadth, much attenuated at each extremity, the maigin
beautifully waved and curled. Fructification, minute granules arranged
in twos or fours, covering the whole frond. Substance thin,
but composed of two closely united membranes. Colour a full, rather
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