C O N F E R V A diffusa.
Diffuse Green Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algce.
Gen. Char. Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
Spec. Char. Green, much branched, diffuse, somewhat
z ig z a g ; the ultimate branches frequent,
short, blunt. Joints four times as long as broad,
o f an uniform colour, with pellucid partitions.
Syn. Conferva diffusa. “ Roth. Catal. fa s c . 2. 207.
t. 7.” Dillw. Syn. 65. Conf. t. 21.
C o l l e c t e d in the sea at Brighthelmstone by Mr. W .
Borrer. I t springs from a minute callous base, forming
loosely entangled, dullish green, tufts, from 2 to 6 inches
long, rather rigid and harsh to the touch. The filaments are
as thick as horse-hair, branched from the very bottom, but
not very copiously nor regularly, their branches zigzag, divaricated
and spreading amongst each other; being often, as
Mr. Dillwyn remarks, as much entangled as Fucus plicatus.
The ultimate branches are numerous, short and simple, obtuse,
occasionally alternate or following each other, all originating,
as in other species, from the partitions, which are
narrow, white and pellucid. The joints are even (except
when dried) 3 or 4 times as long as broad, of an uniform
green, except that when investigated, against the light, with
a microscope, the thickness of the white skin gives them the
appearance of a pellucid border, caused by some shrinking
of the green mass within.