The English flora - SeaweedAfrica

Himanthaha.) ALG* INARTICULATE. ^69
" Cattle are exceedingly fond of this plant, and never fail to browze on
it in winter, as soon as the tide leaves it within their reach. At this
season it is peculiarly wholesome, as counteracting the costiveness induced
by their ordinary straw-commons." Carm.
7. F. tuberculdtus, Huds. (tubercidated Fkcus); frond erect
cylindrical dichotomous destitute of midrib and vesicles, receptacles
terminal cylindrical. Turn. Syn. Fuc. p. 305, Hist. Fuc.
t. 7. Ag. Sp. Alg.v. \.p. 98. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 18.— F. bifurca-
tus With.
Rocky coasts of Cornwall ; Ilfracombe; Bill of Portland and North
of Ireland. Summer and Autumn.!* .—Root somewhat creeping. Fronds
olivaceous when fresh ; when dry, hard, black and brittle.
5. Himanthalia. Lyngb. Himanthalia.
Frond coriaceous, orbicular, peziziform. Vesicles none. Receptacles
(frond-like) elongated, strap-shaped, compressed,
dichotomously divided, springing from the centre of the frond,
containing immersed tubercles furnished with a pore. Grev.
Alg. Brit. p. 19. t. 3.—Name ; tfi*s, uvra, a strap, and **c, the
sect.
This is indeed a verv extraordinary production, if we are to look
upon the peziziform base alone, in conformity with the opinion of \\ ahlenbero-
Bory and Greville, as the frond ; while the frond-like portion
is all destined to produce the fructification. At any rate, no genus can
be more distinct in the whole Order of Algae.
1. H. Urea, Lyngb. (strap-shaped Himanthalia); frond subpvriform
at length collapsing plano-concave stalked, receptacles
repeatedly dichotomous linear slightly tapering at the
extremity. Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 20. t. S.—Fucus loreus, Linn.—
Turn. Syn. Fuc. p. 246, Hist. Fuc. t. 196. Ag. Sp. Alg. v. 1.
p. 98.
Rocky sea-shores, frequent. Winter and Spring. ©. {Grev.) V-.
rearm.).— Receptacles, as they are here considered, from 2 to 10 feet long.
The young fronds have a verv curious appearance, before the receptacles
appear. Thev are about an inch in length, densely clustered, obovate or
turbinate, at length pe/iza->haped, covering the rocks to a great extent,
especially in the north. I have seen some, 00 exposed rocks in the
Orknevs, swollen into a large, hollow, exactly splneneal, smooth, black
ball probably in consequence of the neat of the sun, ranrying and
expanding the air within. Captain Cannichael, who could Dpi have
been awareofthe riewa entertained upon this Hibjecl by Bory and
Dr Greville, baa in bia M88. denned the Genus, "fron* calyaformia
atipitata, receptacula longusima dichotoma e dweo enuttens;
•
lU ,| farther adds, 4i
I would not have ventured to give the abOl e definitions
ofthia genus, had 1 not found that the fronds, hitherto so called,
drop off annually from the very base, and thus become identified witn
the receptacles of the Pucua, as mere fructification, [he cup alone is
perennial. The receptaclea of the first year issue froaa its centre, but
e\er\ part of the disk il equally capable ofproduCing them, and It \v:ll
be found, accordingly, that in old plant., they are always more or less
i ntric. 1