F U C U S Fil urn.
Thread Fucus, or Sea Laces.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algos.
Gen. Char. Seeds produced in clustered tubercles,
which burst at their summits.
S p e c . C h a r . Frond cartilaginous, slimy, thread-shaped,
tapering at both ends, perfectly simple, tubular,
with occasional internal transverse partitions
; spirally twisted when old.
SyN. FucusFilum. Linn. Sp. P l. 1631, Huds. 58/\
With, v, 4. 108. Hull. 324, Gooden. & Woodw.
Tr. o f Linn. Soc, v. 3. 1,93. Turn, Syn, 338.
Hist. Fucor. v. 2. 37. t, 86, Stackh, Ner. 40.
# ,10, L ig h tf. 963.
F. chordam referens teres praelongus. R a iiS y n . 40-
JcliVERY part of the British coasts in general affqrds this
Fucus. The root is a very small callous disk, suspected by Mr,
Turner to be annual, Fronds either solitary, or two, three, or
four together, from one to twenty feet long, perfectly unbranched,
threadshaped, slimy, olive-coloured, about a quarter of an inch
in diameter at the thickest part, tapering at both ends. The
central part is tubular, generally filled with watery mucus, and
interrupted by frequent, more or less complete and regular,
transverse membranes, The coat itself is thick but not very
tough, highly cellular, or composed of interrupted tubes. In
September Mr. W. Borrer found the outside to be covered with
minute stalked granules, each containing an apparent seed.
These are at length deciduous, They seem to have been observed
by Mr. Pigott, as related by Mr. Turner in his Hhtoria,
and we cannot but consider them as the fructification. Much
of the frond is often clothed with jointed whitish fibres, like fine
hairs, which have all the aspect of a parasitical Conferva.
24*7