FUCUS dentatus.
Toothed Fucus.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algae.
Gen. C h a r . Seeds produced in clustered tubercles,
which burst at their summits.
S pec . C h a r . Frond membranous, branched, alternately
pinnatifid, obscurely ribbed: ultimate branches
linear, sharply toothed at their extremities. Fruit
clustered.
Syn. Fucus dentatus. Linn. Mant. 135. Gooden, and
Woodw. Tr. o f Linn. Soc. v. 3.158. Turn. Syn. 149.
. Huds. 582. With. v. 4. 102. Hull. 320. Lightf.
952. Stackh. t. 15.
F. membranaceus rubens, foliolis latiusculis ad extre-
mitates dentatis. Moris» sect. 15. t. 8.ƒ . 5.
F r o m one of thé specimens gathered by Mr. R. Brown on
the coast of Ireland, and alluded to in Mr. Turner’s Synopsis,
our figure No. 1 has been engraved. No- 2 was found in Scotland
by Mr.'J. Reid. We have met with this species at the
Frith of Forth, but it is justly reckoned among the rarer
kinds.
The frond rises from a callous disk to the height of 4 or 5
inches, sometimes more, and is doubly pinnatifid in an alternate
order, fiat and membranous, though not very tender.
A strong mid-rib is visible in its lower part, though much compressed,
and becoming imperceptible in the ultimate branches,
which are linear, or inclining to a wedge-shape, sharply
toothed at their extremities. The proper fructification is here
seen on Mr. Brown’s specimen, consisting of axillary clusters
of pointed pods, each containing 2 rows of numerous seedbearing
tubercles. On Mr. Reid’s are clusters of a different
kind of tubercles, hitherto nondescript, nor has any conjecture
beeti formed concerning them. We should guess them
to be pods rendered abortive, either for want of impregnation,
or by the injury of some marine animal. The colour of the
whole Fucus is a dark reddish brown, becoming a pale pink in
the more delicate parts.