[ 1688 ] / Z S
CONFERVA verrucosa.
Ilough-warted Conferva.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algae.
Gen. Char. , Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with'it.
Spec. Char. Branches irregularly scattered and subdivided*
scarcely jointed, studded with rough warts.
F o r this we are obliged to Miss Biddulph, who found it at
Southampton in the summer of 1800. Mr. Turner informs
us that he has’ had it for some years from the Cornish coast,
and considering it as a new species allied to C. villosa, t. 546,
has designated it by the above name. It grows on Fuel or
other Conferva in the sea, and belongs, with C. villosa, and
C. fluviatilis of Linnaeus, to a genus of M. Vaucher’s called
Poly sper mum.
The frond is 3 or 4 inches high, pale reddish brown, capillary
but uneven, much and very irregularly branched, somewhat
twisted, not perceptibly jointed, except perhaps in the
youngest shoots, where we can sometimes perceive at least
an interruption of colour at intervals. The whole is beset with
scattered warts, but slightly prominent, rough with little
projecting bristles. These, according to Vaucher’s account
o f C. fluviatilis, are jointed fibres in which the seeds are lodged.
Fucus pedunculatus (see our t. 545) should seem to belong
to the same genus with these plants,