CHORDA FILUM. STRING FUCUS.
CHORDA Filum ; fronde terete simplicissiina, utvinque attenuate, senectute spirali. Lyngb.
CHORDA Filurn. Lyngbye Hydrophyt. Dan. p. 71. r. 18.
SCYTOSIPHON Filum. Agardh Sp. Alg. p. 161. Gr« . Fl. Ed. p. 288.
CHORDARIA Filum. Agardh Syn'.p. 14. Hook. Fl. Scot. P . II. p. 97.
FUCUS Filum. L im . Sp. PI. p. 1631. Huds. Angl. p. 5S7. Light/. Scot. p^96S IVith. Bot.
A rr. cd. 4. ml. 4. p. 106. ' Fl. Dan. t. 821. Turner Syn. Fuc. ml. 2■ p. 339. Hist. Fite,
vol. 2. p. 39. t. 86. Smith Engl. Bot. t. 2487. Wahl. Fl. Lapp. p. 50a.
Dut. Zeeolasch. Germ. Der M eer sträng.
Class a n d O u d e r . CRYPTOGAMIA ALGiE.
[N a tu r a l O r d e r . ALGjE, J uss., Decand., Hook.]
G e n . C h a r .
G e n . Ch a r .
Frons teres, tubulosa, simplicissima. Semina nuda, in muco frondem ambiente nidulantia. Lyngb.
Frond terete, tubular, quite simple. Seeds naked, nestling in a mucous substance surrounding the
frond.— Lyngb.
Ra d ix , discus callus, parvus, dilatatus, saxis arete ad
hrerens.
F ronde s solitari® vel plerumque aggregate, pedales
usque ad viginti pedes long®, simplices, teretes,
medium versus digiti tmnoris crassitie, basi
apieeque sensim attenuate valde angust®, superficies
laeves, lubricas, juniores, pracipue, villis
longiusculis articulatis instruct®, demum omnino
glabras; intus fistulosae, nonnunquani isthmis intercept
®, articulis longitudine variantibus: Color
olivaceo-fuscus: Substantia subcartilaginea.
Fr u c tif ic a tio in speciminibus vetustis crassis distortis
atque evidenter spiraliter tortis.
Ca p su l e numerosissim®, superficiem frondis obtegen-
tes, minutissim®, ovat®, pedicellatae, membra-
naceae, pulpa nigra repletae. Alias capsules vel
potius semina reperiuntur, ovat®, sessiles, sparsas,
filis clavatis articulatis immixt®.
Root a small, callous, spreading disk, closely adhering
to stones.
F ronds solitary, or generally clustered, from a foot
even to 2 0 feet long, simple, rounded, near the
middle having the thickness o f the little finger,
at the base and extremity gradually attenuated
and very narrow, the surface smooth, lubricous,
the younger ones particularly, beset with longish
jointed hairs, a t length altogether glabrous; within
fistulose, sometimes furnished with transverse
dissepiments, whose joints vary in length : The
colour olivaceous-brown : The substance cartilaginous.
Fru c tif ic a tio n is found upon old thickened specimens
which are distorted and spirally twisted.
Capsules very numerous, covering the surface o f the
frond, very minute, ovate, pedicellate, membranaceous,
filled with a black pulp. Other capsules
or rather seeds are found, ovate, sessile,
I scattered; mixed with clavatearticulated filaments.
Fur 1 Youne frond. H f l Older frond. Fig. 3. Portion of an old and fertile frond (pat. size). Fig. 4.
imerio rv iel of a yo„ng\ond. Fig. 5. Hair from a young frond Figs. 6, 7 8, 9 1R_Jo rh o n of old and
fertile fronds. Fig. 11 Group of capsules. Fig. 12. The same (all more or less magnified). Fia . 13. lh e
second kind of fructification, discovered by Captain Carmichael.
Abundant on the rooky shores of the British Islands, but growing in the greatest M g
lochs fas they are called!, or arms of the sea, in the Western Highlands and islands of Scotland. I here, where
the water is of very considerable depth, on account of its exceeding punty this plant may
vast profusion, attaining to a length of more than twenty feet. The fronds are covered with slimy pellucid hairs,
W x t " X n eoyf — H as the true fructification of this plant was made by Mr Pigott,
whl f m d T Turner, the a u L r of the Historic Fucorum, that he had seen what be supposed | B B § f
tification wash off from the fronds in myriads of minute brown grains. A very figure of one kind g frm U
given in English Botany, from specimens discovered by Mr. Borrer in the month of!Sepember Agardh takes
no notice of the fructification.. Lyngbye represents it, but not very satisfactorily. I t was
and excellent friend Captain Carmichael to detect on the shores of Appin, C“ s
cation upon this plant, both of which are here delineated. But I shall give the account of the discovety
°W“ You^remark,” he observes in his letter dated October 6, 1821, “ in the Flora Section, B E m M
of Chordaria Filum is unknown; I have sent you some specimens which I trust will fill up that vo d. You
wise say that the fronds are spirally twisted when old. This plant grows, as you well know m tufts consist n
sometimes of a dozen fronds and upwards. Among the largest of these tufts there is rarely found more than
on^ fertile frond and te gen^raTnone at all. If I am not nufeh mistaken, it is only the fertile rood that is ever
twisted, nor does it assume that appearance, at least not decidedly, until the fr.ucufication is completed Its St c
Eure, developed at this period, is very singular, as you will percefre on examining the i g g —
simple filler one or two lines in breadth, spirally twisted into a filiform tube, formed by the cohesion of its edges.
A little below the fructifying part, the tube is distended to twice or thrice the
along with much gelatine, a considerable portion of air, which renders « more buoyant than the J ?
the part that bears the fructification the tube is compressed, flexuose and pitted on each
of these pits is lodged a group of obovate, glossy capsules, standing on short pedicels which me_attac“ ;d to t
frond by a gelatinous placenta. These capsules open at the top by a wide orifice. _ I have not been able to detect
the seeds, which must be extremely minute if the capsule contains more than one.
And again in another letter, of the 28th of September 1822, he says further of this plant;
is only the inflated plant (var. inflate? Lingbye) that becomes spirally twisted j S S j U a W l i H B f l l l
all is spiral, as you may easily perceive by introducing the point of a probe into the tube near
ing it fo rward/ It will split open the tube in a spiral direction for 2 or 3 feet perhaps: then after g o =
on for a short space, change again to the spiral, in the opposite direction, and so on, from one end to the other
alternately. What I formerly pminted out as the fructification of this plant you will also_findon
specimen, but I dare not venture to give an opinion on the nature of them. I broke s e veral on the tab!ltd: the
microscope, and they appear to consist of a tough coriaceous vesicle; in some instances emp y, n °thers
with a grumous shapeless matter. I have found the usual fructification plentifully on it ; that is, oval seeos nesi
line among the club-shaped, jointed filaments.” „ , , ■. f1(r , q rram
The first kind of fructification here marked is represented at Jigs. 9— 12; and the lattei at fia . ,
CT t t % e " t mTvaTued correspondent observes, that one kind of the
exactly similar lo that of Chordaria flagelli/ormis ; and without much yiokuce t o ”aU*.e
perhaps be put into the same genus. Here however, besides the double kind of fructification, the fiond is hollow,
' though sometimes more or less intersected with septa, while in Chordaria flagellijoi m s it is solid.