C O N F E R V A multifida.
Tufted Red Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMIA Alga.
G en . Ch a r . Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
S pec. Ch a r . Crimson, repeatedly branched: little
branches opposite or ternate, very short, tufted,
alternately compounded. Joints cylindrical, four
times as long as broad. Capsules sessile on the
tufted branches.
S yn. Conferva multifida. Huds. 596. With. v. 4. 132.
Hull. 331.
OBSERVED by Mr. W . Borrer on the beach near New-
haven, Sussex, July 1 , 1807, and several times since at
Brighthelmston. We presume, with Mr. Borrer, that it
must be C. multifida of Hudson, with whose description it
agrees in every point, though we have never seen any specimen
of Hudson’s plant under his own authority or that of
any of his correspondents, nor does any other person than
himself appear to have described or known the species before
us. Mr. Borrer’s observations upon it are to the following
effect.
The appearance of this species in the water is similar to that
of C. byssoides, t. 547. Its hue a full, but very fugacious
rose-colour. Root fibrous. Fronds several, 4 or 5 inches
long, about as thick as horsehair. Branches mostly opposite,
unequal, spreading almost at right angles, variously subdivided.
Joints all exactly cylindrical, those of the main stem
and branches full 4 times as long as broad. From each articulation
of the stem and branches spring 2 or 3 opposite
dense short tufts of little branches alternately subdivided, their
divisions acute, ascending, incurved, jointed, the principal
ones bearing on their upper side, near the base, one or more
sessile roundish dark-red capsules, or seeds, for we cannot
tell whether their internal structure be simple or compound.