W.H.H. i éU tlif ti . ■Reove, & Resvc itn j.
P l a t e CXCVII.
ECTOCARPUS LITO RALIS, Lyngh.
G e n . Ch a e . Frond capillary, jointed, olive or brown, flaccid, single-tubed.
F ru it either spherical, elliptical, or lanceolate utricles (or spores)
borne on the ramuli, or imbedded in their substance. E ctocaepus
(Lyngh) ,—from tsros, external, and Kagwos, f r u i t .
E ctocaepus lito ra lis; tufts dense, interwoven, olive-brown or foxy; filaments
coarse, much and irregularly branched, the ultimate brancldets
patent, alternate, or rarely opposite; masses of fructification imbedded
in the substance of the branches, in the form of oblong swellings.
E ctocaepus litoralis, Lyngh. Hyd. Ban. p. 130. t. 42. (excl, var,/3.) J g .
Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 40. H a n . in Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 325. Harv. in
Mack. Fl. Hib. p a rt 3. p. 181. Harv. Man. p. 40. Wyatt, Alg. Banm.
no. 129. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 289. Fhidl. 3rd Suppl. p. 21.
E ctocarpus compactus, Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 41.
E ctocarpus ferrugiiieus, Ag. Syst. p. 163. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 43.
Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 289 (?)
C o n p e r v a litoralis, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1634. Huds. Fl. Ang. p. 694. Lightf.
Fl. Scot.-p. 919. With. Ar. rfr. vol. iv. p. 180, Both, Cat. Bot. vol, i.
p. 152. Billw. Conf t. 31. K. Bot. t. 2290.
H a b . Parasitical on Fuci and L aminaria, within and beyond the influence
of the tide. Annual ? At all seasons. Very common on the British
shores.
Geoge . Dis t r . Abundant tliroughout the Northern and Atlantic Oceans.
D e sc r . Filaments from six to twelve inches long, densely tufted, coarse, excessively
branched, and often bundled together and matted into inextricable
iascicles. Branches spreading, very irregularly inserted, usually
alternate or scattered, sometimes, especially tbe smaller ones, opposite,
repeatedly divided, of unequal length and composition. Bamuli scattered,
or somewhat fascicled, usually alternate, crecto-patent, filiform, slightly
tapering. Articulations about as long as broad, or a little longer. Masses
of frueiification formed at intervals in the substance of the smaller branches
and ramuli, oblong, more or less elongated, consisting of swellings, twice
the diameter of the filament, dark-coloured, and transversely striate, dolour
when young, a greenish olive, becoming more and more brown, and even
foxy, or reddish in old age. Substance soft, but not gelatinous, closely
adhering to paper in drying, and not recovering well on re-immersion.
One of the commonest of the British Algse, and widely dispersed
along the shores of the ocean of most temperate countries, its
specific name litoralis is peculiarly applicable. Nor is this shore
plant at all particular in choosing the substances to which it
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