ALARIA — LAMINARIA. 29 



SYNOPSIS OF THE BRITISH GENERA. 



* Frond stipitate ; the stipe ending in an expanded leafy portion. 



I. Alaria. Leaf' membranaceous, with a cartilaginous, 



percurrent midrib. [Plate 3, A.] 



II. Laminaria. ieff/" (simple or cleft) without any mid- 



rib. [Plate 4.] 



** Frond simple, leafless. 



III. Chorda. Frond cylindrical, hollow ; the cavity in- 

 terrupted by transverse partitions. [Plate 3, B.] 



I. Alaria. Grev. [Plate 3, A.] 



Root fibrous. Frond stipitate, membranaceous, furnished 

 with a percurrent, cartilaginous midrib, the stem pinnated 

 with ribless leaflets. Fructijicaiion : pyriform spores, verti- 

 cally arranged in the thickened leaflets. Name, ala, a iviny, 

 from the winged base of the frond. 



1. A. esculenta, Li. — Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 25, t. 4; Hook. 

 Br. Fl. ii. p. 271 ; E. Bot. 1. 1759 ; Harv. Phyc. Brit. t. Ixxix. 



On rocks, at low-water mark. Perennial. Winter and spring. Com- 

 mon on the shores of Scotland, and of the North and West of Ireland, and 

 West of England. — Root consisting of several cylindrical fihres. Frond 

 solitary, 2 — 12 feet long or more; stem 4 — 8 inches long, pinnated about 

 the middle with several flat nerveless leaflets, and bearing from its summit 

 a long, linear-lanceolate, ribbon-like leaf, of delicate texture, through 

 which the stem is continued as a midrib. " The midrib stripped of the 

 membrane, and sometimes also the leaflets, are eaten in Ireland, Scotland, 

 Iceland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands. It is called in Scotland Bad- 

 derlocks or Hemvare, and in the Orkney Islands Honey -ivare. Dr. Drum- 

 mond informs me that in some parts of Ireland it bears the name of 

 Murlins." Grev. Alg. Brit. 6. 



II. Laminaria. Lamour. [Plate 4.] 



Frond stipitate, coriaceous or membranaceous, flat, undi- 

 vided, or irregularly cleft, ribless. Fructificntion : cloudy 

 spots of spores, imbedded in the thickened surface of some 

 part of the fiond. Name, lamina^ a thin plate, descriptive 

 of the flat frond. 



1. L. digitata, L. ; stem woody, cylindrical, gradually ta- 

 pering and somewhat compressed upwards, expanding into a 

 leathery, roundish-oblong frond, deeply cleft into many linear 



