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FU C O ID E d E . {Cystoseira.
(Irical, furnished with a nerve. Tliese leaves often disappear, and pass
into filiform branches, or branch-like leaves. Agardh has derived the
generic name from two Greek words, signifying a little sac or bladder,
and a chain; but the air-vessels are not by any means always arranged
in the manner of a chain or necklace: thus, while, of the British species,
granulata, and (sometimes) fibrosa, exhibit this character, the
vesicles of the others are solitary. In all, however, they are innate and
simple.
The shores of New Holland and tbe neighbouring seas afford an
extensive series of species, remarkably distinguished by the branches
being retrofiex at their insertion.
1. C y s t o s e ir a e r ic o id e s .
Frond cylindrical branched closely beset every where with veiy
short subulate spinous leaves or branchlets, vesicles elliptical solitary,
receptacles swelling at the base of the terminal spines.
I ericoides, Ag . S p . A lg . v . 1. p . 52. S y s t. A lg . p . 281. S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4.
p . 316.
Fucus ericoides, L in n . S p . P I . p . 1031. T u r n , l-lis t. F u c . 1 . 191. Sm . E n g . B o t. 1 . 1968.
Fucus tamariscifblius, H u d s . F I . A n g . p . 576. L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 18. S t a c k h . N e r .
Brit. 1 .11.
Fucus selaginoides, L in n . G o o d , e t W o o dw . L in n . T r a n s , v . 3. p . 132. T u r n . S y n .
p . 85.
H a b . Rocks in the sea. Perennial. Summer and autumn. Many
places on the south-west coast of England, especially in Devonshire
and Cornwall, where it has been long found by Mrs Griffiths
and other botanists. Yarmouth Beach, Turner. Bantry Bay, Miss
Hutchins.
Root a hard fiattish disk. Frond a foot long or more, furnished with
a stout cylindrical stem, which produces a number of branches in an irregular
manner: these, in their young state, are nearly flat, hardly a line
wide, and half an inch to an inch long, some simple, others pinnatifid;
but they soon lose this character, and are converted into cylindrical
branches, imbricated with awl-shaped ramuli (or leaves) one to two
lines in length. Air-vessels often near the extremity of the branches,
but sometimes scattered along their course. Receptacles composed of
tubercles, which distend the base of the terminal ramuli. Seeds roundish
ovate. The substance of the branches is cartilaginous and flexible,
and the colour a semitransparent olive, or yellowish green.
This plant possesses, in common with some other species, but in a
prominent degree, the property of being iridescent when in a growing
state beneath the surface of the water: and so striking and extraordi»
Cystoseira.) F U C O ID E /E .
nary is the beautiful appearance thus produced by the reflection of
bright glaucous and other tints, that every botanist who beholds it for
the first time is deceived by it.
In drying, the whole plant turns nearly black, and shrinks considerably,
without adhering to the paper.
2. C y s t o s e ir a g r a n u l a t a . Tab. II.
Frond cylindrical, stem bearing elliptical knobs each producing a
filiform repeatedly dichotomo-pinnated branch furnished with remote
subulate spines, air-vessels elliptical-lanceolate, two or three connected
together, receptacles elongated.
Cystoseira granulata, Ag . S p . A lg . v . 1. p . 55. S y s t. A lg . p . 282. S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4.
p . 317-
Fucus granulatus, L in n . S p . P I . p . 1629. T u r n . H i s t . F u c . t . 251. S m . E n g . B o t. t. 2169.
Fucus mucronatus. T u r n . S y n . p . 73. L am o u r . E s s a i, p . 18.
Fucus fceniculaceus, G o o d e n , a n d W o o dw . L in n . T r a n s , v . 3. p . 134.
H a b . Rocky pools left by the receding tide. Perennial. Summer.
Various parts of the coast of Devonshire and Cornwall, Mrs
Griffiths, Mr Rashleigh, Mr Turner, &c. Bantry Bay, Miss
Hutchins.
Root a hard fiattish disk. Stem cylindrical, about as thick as a
goose-quill, two to eight inches high: branches numerous, nearly a
foot in length, filiform, the primary divisions irregularly dichotomous,
the subsequent ones unequally and alternately pinnate, the axils
rounded, and the whole set at distant intervals, with small spines one
or two lines in length. Air-vessels forming a sort of chain, sometimes
running into one another. Receptacles filiform, acuminate; sometimes
the tubercles are not collected into a well-defined receptacle, but are
scattered over the extremities of the branches for half an inch or more,
giving them a granulated appearance. Substance firm, coriaceous,
flexible. Colour olive-green. In drying it does not adhere to paper.
Whatever difficulty may arise in distinguishing the present from
some other exotic species, to the British botanist, the bulb-like knobs
which are attached to the stem, and form the base of the branches,
afford an excellent chai-acter, especially when joined to the absence of
a setaceous point at the apex of the receptacles. The latter character
separates it from the following species, which is so rarely thrown upon
the British shore, as almost to exclude its being admitted even as a
straggler.
Agardh, indeed, has quoted the principal figure (Fig. a) of Mr