IRbofcora 



JOURNAL OF 



THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vo1 - 4 June, igo2 No. 42 



THE MARINE CLADOPHORAS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



F. S. Collins. 



(Plate 36.) 



There is probably no other genus of algae which has a distribu- 

 tion so universal, both in fresh and salt water, as Cladophora. Its 

 range includes extreme northern and southern latitudes and all 

 regions between, including every possible station where the plant 

 can be submerged all or part of the time. Species of Cladophora 

 sometimes constitute dense attached masses of great extent in lakes 

 and rivers, or floating strata in quiet waters ; the fresh water species 

 are not so numerous as the marine, however, and the latter are found 

 in almost every station where algae can grow at all. Exposed rocky 

 shores, quiet bays, still lagoons, marsh creeks, all are apt to abound 

 with these plants. If we except loose sandy beaches, where no algae 

 of any kind can grow, there is probably not a stretch of a few rods 

 in all New England, reached by salt or brackish water, where 

 Cladophoras cannot be found, at least in spring or summer. 



There is seldom any difficulty in determining whether a plant 

 belongs to this genus; the generic characters are clear enough, but 

 there is perhaps no genus of New England algae that is so' dis- 

 tinct from all other genera as the genus Cladophora, and at the 

 same time contains so many species of vague characters and uncer- 

 tain limits. Both in the matter of determining a particular speci- 

 men collected and in the matter of ascertaining some definite prin- 

 ciples, by which the almost innumerable forms may be arranged in 

 natural and easily recognized groups, it offers great' difficulties. 



Founded in 1843 by Kiitzing 1 it includes those species of the 



Linnaea, Vol. XVI f, p. 91, 1843. 



