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E C TO C A R PU S TOMENTOSUS.
Woolly Ectocarpus.
C la s s a n d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA ALG®, L in n N a t . O rd . A LG M , Juss.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
F ih articulata, flexilia, olivácea. Fructus duplex; capsules et siliques.
Filaments jointed, flexible, olivaceous. Fructification twofold; capsules
and pod-like bodies.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
E c t o o a r p u s to m e n to s u s ; fronde funiformi, suh-spemgima, ramosa, filis den.
sissime implexis, siliquis ohtusis pedunculalis, articulis triplo hngioribus.
E. frond resembling a somewhat spongy cord, branched, composed of
densely interwoven filaments; pod-like bodies pedunculate, obtuse,
joints three times longer than broad.
E c t o c a r p u s tom e n to s u s , Lyngb. Flydr. Dan. p . 132. t . 4 1 .—Agardh, Syst.
Alg. p . 163.
C e r am ium tomentosum, Ag. Syn. p. 64.—Hook. FI. Scot. Pt. 2. p. 86.
C e r am ium compactum, Roth, Cat. Bot. v. 3. p. 148.
C o n f e r v a tom e n to s a , Huds. FI. Angl. p. 594 L ig h f. FI. Scot. p. 981.—
Dillm. Corf. t. 56.— With. Bot. Arr. v. 4. p. \5Q.— Spreng, in Berl. Mag.
1809, p. 190. t. 7. f. 12.
H a b . In the sea, growing upon the larger algse. Ju n e to August. Western
coast and islands o f Scotland. F rith of Forth, rare. I t occurs
more or less on every coast of G reat Britain.
Plant from one to eight inches in length, variously and irregularly divided,
of a greenish-brown or pale olivaceous colour. The stem and divisions
are composed of a densely entangled mass of fine branched
filaments, the whole resembling a soft woolly or somewhat spongy cord.
I t is impossible to disentangle the filaments; b u t they are many times
divided in a very irregular spreading manner, with the extremities obtuse,
The articulations are pellucid, mostly colourless, and three or
four times longer than broad, becoming shorter upwards. The siliquee
or pod-like opake bodies occur on simple or divided peduncles, and are
o f a linear-oblong, frequently curved form, obtuse at the apex.