C O N F E R V A rofea.
Rofe-coloured Conferva.
CRYPTO G A Ml A Alga.
G e n . C h a r . Seeds produced in round, folitary, clofed
tubercles, projecting from the frond, but united
with it.
S p e c . C h a r . Rofe-coloured, repeatedly branched,
very {lender and tufted ; articulations pellucid, a
little contracted. Capfules feffile, obovate, lateral,
leaning one way.
S y n . Ceramium rofeum. Roth. CataleEl. Bot. fafc.
2. l 8 2 ,
M e . SOWERBY firft obferved this elegant little Conferva
in Auguft 17 9 7 , growing in denfe tufts upon Fucus veficulofus
by the river fide at Yarmouth. Specimens fent by Dr. Roth
to Mr. Turner prove it to be the Ceramvum rofeum of his Cata-
le£la Botanica, which no other writer feems to have mentioned.
We have profited by his excellent and ample defcription in the
following more concife one.
Several Items, an inch or two long, grow from a fmall round
fhield-Hke bafe. Each ftem is repeatedly and alternately
branched; the ultimate branches very numerous, tufted, extremely
{lender. The joints, mod: vifible in the ftem and
larger branches, are oblong, rather fwelling; their articulations,
or points of conne&ion, contracted, exquifitely pellucid, and
colourlefs. Capfules numerous, ranged in a fingle row on the
upper fide of each general and partial branch, fmall, nearly
feffile, obovate when ripe, becoming dark purple by age. The
general hue of the plant is an elegant rofe-colour.