THE GENUS HALIMEDA 



BY 



ETHEL SAREL BARTON, 



London. 



W i t h f o u r p 1 a t e s. 



Historical. 



The genus Halimeda belongs to the order Siphoncae in the group Chlorophyceae. 



As represented by Halimeda Tuua, it attracted the attention of botanists more than three 

 hundred years ago. The earliest record of it, under the name of Scrtolara, is in "Dell' Historia 

 Naturale" of Imperato, published in Naples in 1599; where, in addition to a short description, 

 there is an excellent figure of the plant, natural size. Other old writers on Mediterranean plants 

 included this species in their works, to which references are given below under the synonomy 

 of H. Tiina. The most interesting of these accounts is given by Bauhin in his Historiae 

 Plantarum lib. XXXIX. p. 802, published in 1651. Here the author describes the various parts 

 of the plant and says it is known to sailors under the name of "Colique". He adds that 

 Imperato sent specimens from Naples to Clusius under the name of Sertularia, and that 

 Cortusius receivecl it from Corsica. After referring to various other authors he adds that the 

 plant makes a good dish when treated with vinegar, salt ancl oil and he concludes this quaint 

 account with a list of the synonomy which existed even at that date. 



In 1707 Sir Hans Sloane includes Corallina Opuntia in his Natural History of Jamaica and 

 the specimens there described are to be seen in his Herbarium preserved in the British Museum. 



Ellis in "Essay Nat. Hist. Corall. 1755. p. 53", goes into greater detail over the two 

 species now known as H. Opuntia ancl H. incrassata, calling them Articulatecl Corallines of 

 Jamaica ancl giving figures of the magnified surface view of the joints. This work of Ellis was 

 foliowed by the publication in 1786 of the Natural History of etc. Zoophytes collected by Ellis 

 and arranged ancl described by Solander. Here we have for the first time descriptions under 

 the binomial system of five species of the genus, called Corallina, and the figures, (natural 



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