FUCUS serratus.
S e r r a t e d F u c u s .
CRYPTOGAMIA Algae.
G e n . C h a r . Seeds produced in clustered tubercles,
which burst at their summits.
S p e c . C h a r . Frond linear, with a central rib, forked,
deeply and irregularly serrated: its summits cloven,
flat; the barren ones obtuse; the fertile pointed.
S y n . F ucus serratus. Linn. Sp. Pl. 162 6. Gooden,
and Woodw. Tr. o f Linn. Soc. v. 3. 143. Turn.
Syn. 110. Huds. 5 7 6 . With. v. 4 . 9 1 . Hull. 319.
. Lightf. 9 0 2 . Relh. 4 7 8 . Velley, t . \ . f . a— c.
F. sive Alga latifolia major dentata. Raii Syn. 4 2 .
/3. Quercus marina humilis, latifoliae serratse similis.
Raii Syn. 4 2 .
C o m m o n every where on the British coast, either growing
on rocks and stones, or washed up by the tide upon the
sandy beach. It is perennial, and appears in fructification
throughout the winter and spring.
This can be confounded with no other sea-weed. It is one
of the largest species, agreeing in leathery substance, and
olive-brown or black colour, with F. nodosus, vesiculosus, ca-
naliculatus. siliquosus, loreus, and other perennial winter Fuel.
The root is an expanded disk. Frond linear, repeatedly forked,
from 2 to 6 feet long, having a strong central nerve, which at
the base forms a naked round stem. The margin is strongly,
sharply, but unequally, serrated. The extremities forked,
blunt when barren, more a'cute when laden with fructification,
which is of a dull yellow hue, slimy to the touch, and consists
of an irregular congeries of capsules, imbedded in each
side of the frond, rendering it twice as thick as in the barren
part. Tufts of minute white fibres spring from pores scattered
here and there over the frond, which Reaumur, not absurdly
though erroneously, conceived to belong to the fructification.