/ 4 'T [ 2 5 8 9 ]
CONFERVA Brodigei.
Brodia an Conferva.
CRYPTOGAM [A Alga.
Gen. Char. Seeds produced within the substance of
the capillary or jointed frond, or in closed tubercles
united with it.
Spec. Char. Purplish brown. Filaments very much
branched, striated, elongated. Subdivisions scattered,
spreading, many-cleft, clustered; their joints
longer than broad; those of the principal branches
obliterated. Capsules ovate, sessile, lateral or
axillary, solitary.
Svn. Conferva Brodisei. Dillw. Syn. 81. Conf. t. 107.
C o l l e c t e d by Miss Hutchins in Bantry bay, in June 1807.
We are obliged to that lady, and to Mr. J. T. Mackay, for specimens
of this rare species, which was first detected by Mr. Brodie
in Scotland.
It is one of the striated, or compound-jointed, tribe, to which
elongata, t. 2429, polymorpha, t. 1764, fucoides, t. 1743,
and nigrescens, t. 1717, belong; but the species before us is
perhaps the most striking of the whole, being from one to two
feet in length, repeatedly and very finely branched, and its ultimate
tufts of little branches, in which alone the joints remain
visible, are extremely delicate and beautiful. On these only the
capsules are found, distinctly visible to the naked eye, ovate,
semi-pellucid, sessile, at the sides, or in the forks, of these fine
subdivisions. All the main branches, as well as these, are marked
with numerous, longitudinal, dark streaks, or veins.