FUCUS ruscifolius.
Blunt Tongue-bearing Fucus.
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
G en . Ch a r . Seeds produced in clustered tubercles,
which burst at their summits.
Spec. Ch a r . Stem branched, winged. Leaves oblong-
oval, obtuse, flat, entire, proliferous; with pellucid
chain-like veins. Tubercles globose, sessile.
Syn. F ucus ruscifolius. Turner T r . o f Linn. Soc. v. 6.
1 2 7 . t. 8 . / . 1. Syn. 1 1 .
F O R the knowledge of this elegant Sea-weed, as well as for
specimens, we are entirely obliged to Mr. Turner, who first
described it in the Linnean Society’s Transactions, and afterwards
in his excellent Synopsis. At first it was taken for a
variety of the species in our next plate, but is accurately and
curiously distinguished by the structure of its veins, which,
when the leaf is held against the light, appear jointed, or like
little chains running parallel to each other. The leaves are also
more blunt, and the colour darker than in F. Hypoglossum.
Several fronds or stems, 2 or 3 inches high, spring from one
callous root. Each branch is winged from top to bottom,
forming an oblong, blunt, somewhat elliptical, entire leaf,
with a midrib, from which grow several alternate smaller
leaves of the same form (like the genus Ruscus), and these
again often produce from their midribs still smaller leaves.
The seeds, according to Mr. Turner, are found in January or
February, either constituting round tubercles on the midrib,
or arranged in 2 rows parallel to it.—We should rather refer
this Fucus and the following to the section of alati than to
that of foliis distinctis.