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towards the top of the main stem, arranged sometimes on two opposite
sides in a pinnate manner, a t others given off without much order, and
more or less fastigiate. In old age becoming sometimes compressed,
and rather rugose. Fructification naked, round, or pyriform granules,
collected into irregular little groups, immersed in the substance of the
frond, beneath the surface.
The extraordinary variety of Halymenia purpurascens
now represented, is characterised by the frond being irregularly
compressed, curled, twisted, and crisped in every possible direction,
the general diameter being greatly enlarged, the substance
very much firmer, and the colour much deeper. It is
not an accidental appearance, as I could have gathered a thousand
specimens when I first discovered it, and very many of
them far more whimsical in their contortions than those in the
plate. The water in which it gi-ew was very shallow, but within
the reach of every tide.
There can, in my own opinion, be no doubt, that Halymenia
filiformis of A g a r d h ’s Systema Algartim is the Ulva
purpurascens of H u d s o n ; and as the latter name has the
right of priority, I have preferred it. Viva filiformis of H u d s
o n is certainly not our plant, though quoted by L y n g b y e .
On the other hand, Ulva filiformis of W a h l e n b e r g and
Flora Danica really belongs to it; yet W a h l e n b e r g quotes
the wrong plant of H u d s o n , along with the right figure in
“ English Botany,” adding, however, to the latter, hand Hud-
soni. I t is probable that the Viva filiformis of H u d s o n ,
which seems to have created so much confusion, may be Chor-
dariaflagelliformis, A g . {Fucus flagellifor mis. T u r n . Hist.
t._85.), as he states it to he ramos'issima, which scarcely agrees
with any state of our plant, and the branches themselves to be
longissimi, a character which often does not agree at all.
I h ave quoted the Fucus contortus oi QMKiASi d ou b tfu lly .
A s A g a r d h , however, does so w ith o u t a q uestion, h e has probably
a u th en tic information on th e subject. G m e l i n ’s very
rude r epresentation m ig h t pass well enou gh ; h u t when h e says
o f th e d iv ision s o f th e frond, “ p la n * su n t, ad a x illa s suhcon-
to r t* , m argine d e n tic u la t* d en ticu lis m in u tis, remotis and
also “ utrum q u e la tu s su b u n d u la tum ,” I cannot h e lp th in k in g
h e m a y h ave had some other p la n t in view.
Fig. 1. Fronds o f Halymenia purpurascens v. crispata ; natural size. Fig. 2.
A portwn q f the outer substance o f the frond, with granules. Fig. 3. Granules
removed; highly magnified.
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