SEA WEEDS 



385 



FIG. 270.- Alaria 

 esculenta 



Sugared Laminaria (L. saccharina) characterised by a round solid 

 stem, and a lanceolate, entire, membranous frond. The last species 

 is the one most commonly used by the 

 sea-side cottager as a weather indicator. 



Alaria esculenta is an edible species 

 known as the Badderlocks in Scbtland, and 

 also locally as the Henware, Honeyware, 

 and the Murlins. It has a fibrous root, 

 and a stalked, lanceolate, entire frond with 

 a distinct midrib throughout. The stem 

 is winged with finger-like leaflets, in which 

 the spores are arranged in oblong clusters. 



In the genus Chorda the frond is a 

 simple, cylindrical tube, divided internally 

 by numerous transverse membranes, and 

 the spores are distributed over the surface. 

 The commonest species is C. filum (see 

 Plate VIII.), the frond of which is very 

 slimy, and often from ten to twenty feet 



in length. In its young state it is covered with gelatinous hairs, 

 but these are worn off as the plant develops. A smaller species 

 (C. lomentaria) is sometimes found on our shores. Its fronds are 

 constricted at intervals, taper at the tip, and grow in tufts. It is 

 seldom more than a foot long, and is not of a slimy nature. 



The Sporochnacece have inarticulate, thread-like fronds, and the 

 spores are contained in oblong, stalked receptacles, each of which 

 is crowned with a tuft of slender jointed 

 filaments. The typical genus contains only 

 one British species Sporochnus peduncu- 

 latus and even that is by no means com- 

 mon. It is, however, a very pretty weed 

 of a delicate texture and pale olive-green 

 colour. Its stem is long and slender, pin- 

 nately branched, and the branches bear 

 numerous small thread-like tufts. 



The same order contains the genus 

 Desmarestia, in which the frond is long 

 and narrow, thread-like or flattened, with a 

 tubular jointed thread running through it. Young specimens have 

 marginal tufts of branching filaments. The species decay very 

 rapidly after removal from the water, and should therefore be 



c c 



FIG. 271. Sporochnus 

 pedunculatus 



