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FUCUS fubfufcus.
B r o w n i j h F u c u s .
tRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
G en . Ch a r . Seeds produced in cluttered tubercles,
which burft at their fummits.
Sp e c . C h a r . Frond thread-fhaped, much branchedj
ultimate branches moftly alternate, awl-fhaped,
fhort. Fruit in minute, oblong, pointed, cluttered
pods.
Syn. Fucus fubfufcus. Woodw. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. I.
131. /. 12. and v. 3. 212. Turn. Sjyn. 350.
With. v. 4. 113. Hull. 326.
F . confervoides. Hudf. 591.
F. variabilis. Gooden, and Woodw. Tr. of Linn. Soc.
v. 3. 220. With. v. 4. 116. Hull. 326.
C o m m o n on the Norfolk coaft, and found alfo in Scotland
and Cornwall; yet it is fo variable a fpecies as to have
been little underftood, even by botanifts moft converfant with
this tribe. Mr. Turner, to whom we are obliged for perfeft
fpecimens, has illuftrated its hiftory at length in his Synopfs,
which, added to what may be found in the Linnean Tranf-
aftions, leaves nothing to be defired on the fubjeft. We mull
content ourfelves with fuch a defcription as may fuffice to af-
certain the fpecies.
The colour is a light reddilh brown, paleft in the younger
part. Subftance firm and cartilaginous. Root a thin expanded
difk. Fronds numerous, thread-fhaped, much, and for the
moft part alternately, branched, rough about the bafe with
the remains of old branches; their ultimate divifions awl-fhaped
and fhort. Fru&ification peculiarly difcriminative of the fpecies,
produced in the fpring or early in fummer, (when alone
the plant is entire and in vigorous vegetation,) in the form of
minute, oblong, cluftered, pointed pods, growing on fhort
axillary or lateral ftalks, and each containing about 8 dark
feeds.