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FUCUS coccineus.
P e c t i n a t e d C r im s o n F u c u s .
z z £
CRYPTOGAMIA Algæ.
C 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 somewhat cartilaginous, much
branched : ultimate branches pectinated on one side.
Tubercles globose, sessile.
S yn. F ucus coccineus. Huds. 586. Gooden, and
Woodw. Tr. o f Linn. Soc. v. 3. 187. Turn. Syn.
“291. With. v. 4. 119. Hull. 324. Dicks. H.
Sicc.fasc. 16. 25. ,
F. plocamium. Gmel. Futi, 153. t. 16. ƒ 1. Light/.
957.
Muscus marinus rubens pennatus. Rail Syn. ed. 2. 8.
O n e of the most common Fuci on all our coasts, universally
admired for its brilliant colour and elegant structure,
which render it preferable to most other sea plants for ornamental
purposes. It fructifies during the summer and autumn.
The root is perennial, fibrous, throwing out many compressed
much branched fronds, of a'delicate pale crimson colour, and
rather cartilaginous than membranous texture. The ultimate
branches are zigzag and alternate, their segments finely pectinated
on the fore side only; by which this species is clearly
determined. Tubercles solitary, axillary, sessile at the base
of the smaller branches, of a much darker red than the frond,
from the seeds lodged in their centre. Such is what should
seem to be the proper fructification of this plant, se e fg . l ;
but a very different appearance is exhibited at ƒ. 2, whereelus-
ters of oblong pods, each containing numerous tubercles,
grow out of the comb-like teeth of the small branches, and
bear an evident analogy to the fructification of F. dentatus and
suhfuscus. Hence Mr. Turner is induced to sfispect our ƒ . g
to be a distinct species, though otherwise not at all different
from f . 1, except in being sometimes narrower in the frond.
We wish for the present to collect facts on the subject of the
fructification of Fuci, rather than to form decisions.
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