I ’Ih l n .
P l a t e CL. A.
CONFERVA LINUM, Moth.
G e n . C h a r . Filaments g re en , jo in ted , a tta ch e d , or floating, u n b ran ch ed .
F ru it, a g g re g a ted g ra n u le s, o r zoospores, co n ta in ed in th e jo in ts ,
h a ving, a t some p eriod, a p ro p e r ciliary m o tio n . C o n p e r v a [Plin.)
— from conferruminare, to consolidate; because some of th e species
were u s e d by th e an cien ts in cases of fra c tu re d bones.
C onperva linum ; filaments very thick, of great length, lig h t or dark green
according to age, much curled, rigid, forming loosely entangled, harsh
strata ; articulations as long as broad.
Conperva linum, Roth. Cat. Bot. vol. i. p. 174. and üi. p. 357. Ft. Ban.
p. 771. f. 2. F .Bot. t. 3363. Ag. Syst. p. 97. Jurg.! vol. iii no. 10.
Lyngb. Hyd. Ban. p. 147. t. 50. Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 260. {not of Hook. Br.
Ft. or Harv. Man.)
Conferva capillaris, Huds. FI. Ang. p. 598. Lightf. FI. Scot. p. 988. Bitlw.
Conf. t. 9.
Conferva crassa, Ag. Syst. p. 99. Harv. in Hook. Br. FI. vol. ii, p. 352.
Harv. in Mack. FI. Hib. vol. iii. p. 225. Harv. Man. p. 129. Kütz. Phyc.
Gen. p. 260.
H ab. I n salt-water ditches, near th e coast.
Geogr. D is t r . Shores of Europe.
D esok. Filaments from a few inches to several feet in length, twice as thick as
hog’s bristle, very much curled, rigid, crisp and brittle, soon becoming
flaccid if exposed in tbe ah ; lying in thick, but not dense, bundles of
considerable breadth, disposed in strata, one above the other. Articulations
about as long as broad, filled with granular fluid, which in some joints
is more dense than in others. Eventually the joints divide in the centre by
a transverse line, and the mass separates a new diaphragm is then gradually
formed, and finally a new joint. This species varies much in colour, being
sometimes of a pale, at other times a dark green, and is very often mottled
with dark and light green. Substance rigid-membranous, scarcely adhering
to paper in drying. ^ ___________________
The plant now figured is what, in British works, is usually
called C. crassa, a name which originated with Agardh, who
regarded the Conf. capillaris of Dillwyn, fConf. linum of E. Bot.)
as being different specifically from the original C. linum of El. Dan.,
and founded a new species upon it. I rather hastily adopted bis
view in the Br. Elora ; and still more incorrectly I took up, from
tbe ‘Algæ Appinenses ’ of Carmichael, another species under tbe
name of C. linum, which is quite unlike tbe plant so called by
Both. That species will be figured in a future number. With
regard to the C. linum of Both ; that it is tbe same as our
Britisli plant commonly called C. crassa, was the opinion of
r ii