Fucus delicatulus, M. Ban. t. 1190.
Sph .*eococous samiensis, Hook. Fl. Scot. p a rt 2. p. 103. Kiitz. Phyc.
Gen. p. 409.
Var. E. sobolifems; frond stipitate, membranaceous, the branches very
narrow below, much divided, expanding upwards into wedge-shaped,
jagged and laciniate lobes.— [Tab. Nost. C G X F III.fig . 3.)
E i i o d y m e n i a sobolifera, Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 95. Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii.
p. 292. Harv. in Mack. Fl. Hib. part 3. p. 195. Harv. Man. p. 63.
SpHjEroooccus soboUferus, Kütz. Phyc. Gen. p. 409.
H alymenia sobolifera, Ag. Syn. p. 36. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. i. p. 218. Ag.
Syst. p. 246. Hook. Fl. Scot. p a rt 2. p. 107.
Ulva sobolifera, Byngb. Hyd. Ban. p. 27.
F ucus soboUferus, Fl. Ban. p. 1065. Turn. Hist. t. 45. Wahl. Fl. Lapp.
p. 947. F. Bot. t. 2133.
H ab . On rooks within tide marks; and on the stems of F u d , Laminaria,
&o. Annual or biennial. Winter and spring. ^ Common on all the
British shores. S- and y. on the stems of Laminaria. e. on Pucus
serratus.
Geogr. H is t . Shores of Northern and Arctic Europe. Iceland. Greenland.
Eastern shores of North America. Unalaschka. Kurile Islands. Kams-
katka. Falkland Islands. Tasmania.
Desc r. Boot, a smaU disc. Fronds soUtary or tufted, rising from a more or less
evident subcyUndrical stipe, from a line to half an inch long, or more,
which soon flattens into the wedge-shaped base of the lamina; lamina
broadly wedge-shaped or fan-shaped, somewhat fastigiate, more or less
deeply cloven into numerous segments, which are often again and again
divided in a palmate or subdichotomous manner. So variable is the degree
of division 'in different specimens that it is impossible to write a general
character which shall embrace all the foi-ms. In some, the frond is quite
simple, broadly oval or wedge-form; in others it is cleft into four or five
principal segments, the margin emitting leaf-like l o b e s t h e s e varieties are
usually of large size, 12-18 inches long, of a coriaceous substance and dark
colour. Other states (vars. 8. and e.) are thinner in substance, and excessively
divided, the lower segments fiUform, the upper split into innumerable
narrow ribbons, often not half a Une in breadth; these sometimes expand
again into wedge-shaped lobes, laciniated at the extremity ; and sometimes
the whole frond is excessively branched, and none of its divisions more
than half a Une in breadth; the narrow and laciniate varieties are seldom
more than five or six inches in length. Fructijication; tetraspores, half
immersed in the frond, forming large cloudy patches dispersed over the
whole frond. Besides these, an imperfect tubercular fructification (?) is
sometimes found, forming circular spots surrounded by a discolouration.
Within the circle are congregated innumerable minute, dark-coloured
pustules, immersed in the frond, slightly prominent and either empty, or
containing a mass of granular endochrome. Substance in the larger varieties
leathery, in the smaller membranaceous; the latter adhering closely to
paper. Cofo»®, a purpUsh or brownish re d ; sometimes pinky.
m
ftil
iVI
I
ri'iil
i n
Fig. 1. R hodymenia palmata, var. ;— o f the natural size. 2. Portion of
the surface with tubercles (P). 3. Section of the frond and tubercles (?).
4. Portion of the surface, with part of a Sorus. 5. Tetraspores:— all
more or less
j