M. Bory de St Vincent lias described another species, brought from
the coast of Ciiili, under the name of P. Durvillæi. The same has
also been collected, according to him, in Ota'iti. He does not, however,
mention whether the specimens are in fructification; and his specific
character, “ Polyides, caulibus cylindraceis vage dichotomis ;
ramis fastigiato-furcatis,” so nearly applies to the common species,
that its claim to be ranked as distinct from it, seems to be dubious.
1. P o l y id e s r o t u n d u s . Tab. XI.
colour. In decay it becomes paler, reddish, yellowish, and at length
whitish. . . „
Two varieties of this plant are mentioned in the Historia Fucomm,
both of which occur on the British coast. The one is distinguished
by the uppermost segments being long and linear; the other, by being
very thin and scarcely two inches long. The latter I have never seen.
The specific name in use by almost every author, I have retained, in
preference to that of lumbricalis, adopted by Agardh, from the “ Pmax
Theatri Botanici” of Bauhin, published in 1623.
Polyides lumbricalis, A g. S p . Alg. v . 1. p . 192. S y s t. A lg . p . 194. S p r e n g . S p . P I . v . 4. p . .‘Ml.
Spongiocarpus rotundus, G re v . F I . E d in . p . 286.
Furcellaria rotunda, L y n g b . H y d ro )> h . D a n . p . 49.
Gigartina rotunda, L a in o u r . E s s a i, p . 49.
Fucus rotundus, G m e l. H i s t . F u c . p . I ll) , t . 6. f . 3. T u r n . S y n . F u c . p . 309. H is t. F u c .
t . 5. S m . E n g . B o t. t . 1 7 3 a
Fuctis radiatus, G o o d e n , a n d W o o dw . L in n . T r a n s , v . 3. p . 202.
Fucus fastigiatus, L in n e a n H e r b a r iu m , a c c o rd in g to T u r n e r . S ta c k h . N e r . B r i t . t . 6.
( th e sm a lle r f ig u r e ) .
H a b . On rocks in the sea. Perennial? Autumn and winter.
Pensance, Mr E. Forster junior. Falmouth and Yarmouth, Turner.
bidmouth and many other places in Devonshire. Sussex, Mr Borrer.
On the large stones at Cromer, Goodenough and Woodward. Coast
of Suffolk, Mrs Fowler. Coast of Northumberland, Winch. Near
Belfast, Dr Drummond. Coast near Dumfries, Dr Richardson. Frith
of Forth very rare.
Root an expanded disk. Fronds tufted, numerous, three to nine
inches high, about the thickness of a crow-quill, filiform, cylindrical,
branched many times in a dichotomous manner, the axils more or less
obtuse and rounded, the branches fastigiate, the uppermost ones somewhat
acuminated and often incurved. Fructification, spongy pale or
pink warts on the sides of the upper branches, at first roundish or oblong
and scattered, hut at length two to four lines long, and one or
two lines thick, sometimes creeping all round the frond, and occasionally,
several becoming confluent, extend for nearly an inch along the
branches. The warts are naked, or destitute of any epidermis, composed
of white articulated filaments, radiating horizontally from the
frond, and containing numerous imbedded clusters of seeds, each cluster
surrounded by a pellucid limbus. Seeds red, wedge-shaped, fixed
by their base to a central point. Substance cartilaginous. Colour
blackish or brownish puiple. When dry it is horny, and of a darker
Or d e r IX .— F L O R ID EÆ .
Plants all marine, o f a purplish, reddish, or fine rose colour, seldom
changing much by exposure to th£ air ; o f a coriaceous,
cartilaginous, or membranaceous substance, and cellular texture,
often reticulated. Frond fia t, compressed or cijlindrical,
with or without a midrib, sometimes furnished with distinct
leaves or foliaceous expansicms. Fructification often o f two
hinds : the first, spherical or hemispherical capsules, sessile or
stalked, and containing a round mass o f seeds ; the second
composed o f granules, (mostly ternate) scattered or collected
into little spots ( sori) or lines, and situated either in the general
substance o f the frond, or in little leaflets or distinct pod-
Uke foliaceous processes. More than one kind o f fructification
is never found upon the same individual.
G e n u s XXIV. D ELESSER IA, Lamour. Tab. X II.
G e n . C h a r . Frond rose-red, flat, membranaceous, with a
percurrent midrib. Fructification o f two kinds : capsules
containing a globular mass o f seeds, and tcrnatc
granules forming definite sori in tbe frond, or in distinct
foliaceous leaflets.
Obs. M. Lamouroux dedicated this genus to a noble French patron
of science, the Baron Benjamin Delessert. Ho was aware that another
genus of plants had already been named Lessertia, in honour of the