D e s c k . Eoot, a flattened disc. Fronds tufted, many springing from the same
base, from one to ten or twelve inclies in height, rising with a subcylindrical,
slender stem, which soon becomes flattened, and at an inch or more from
the root widens into the cuneate base of a fan-shaped, many parted frond.
The segments vary much in width, and in the amount of thefr furcation.
Sometimes they are not more than a line wide, nearly perfectly linear, flat,
and very many times dichotomous ; sometimes they are from one to four
inches in breadth, very much curled, and broadly cuneate, overlapping each
other. Sometimes the margin is quite entire and even ; in other specimens
it is lobed, or proliferous, or fringed with leafy processes. The apices are
more or less truncate, emarginate or bifid ; and the axils, especiaUy of the
broad varieties, are very blunt. The colour is extremely variable, ranging
from a yellowish gi’een to a livid purple, or a purpUsh-brown. Fructification ;
tetraspores coUected in dense sori, contained in oval or oblong cavities irregularly
scattered through the lamina of the frond, and usuaUy concave on
one side. Substance cartilaginous, becoming soft, and finaUy dissolving into
a gelatine in fresh water.
So variable is tbe present species in appearance, under different
circumstances, tbat it is quite impossible to enumerate tbe many
forms it puts on, and were we to attempt to figure even the principal
varieties, the figures would fill many plates. Turner has
ten varieties ; and Lamouroux figures thirty-five. I prefer representing
two of tbe most opposite forms.
My upper figure shows tbe state of the plant when growing
near low water mark, in situations exposed to the full dash of the
open sea. The lower is from an estuary where a fresh water
stream mixes with the sea, and brings down much mud aud sand.
In this situation the Chondrus attains even a greater size, and is
frequently very much lobed and fringed.
This plant is the Carrigeen or Irish moss of the shops, and is
used in place of isinglass in tbe preparation of blanc-manges, and
jellies, the frond boiling down to a clear, tasteless gelatine. A
few years ago it was a fashionable remedy in consumptive cases,
and the collection and preparation of it for market afforded a
small revenue to the industrious peasantry of the West Coast of
Ireland, where it first came into use. The price at one time
was as high as Is. Qd. per lb., but tbe fashion has gone out, and
the plant almost ceased to be collected.
Eig, 1. C h o n d k ü s c r i s p e s , a narrow variety. 3. Tbe same, a broad variety ;
— natural size. 3. Transverse section of the frond. 4. Longitudinal section:—
both magnified. 5. Specimen producing sori-.— natural size. 6.
Transverse section of tbe fi-ond, and of two sori. 7. Tetraspores from tbe
sorus :—botb magnified.