Ser. MELANOSPERME^. ( 93 ) Fam. DICTYOTEiE^ 



Plate CLXIV. 

 PUNCTAEIA PLANTAGINEA.— (?/w 



Gen. Char. — Frond gelatinoso -membranous, flat, without midrib. Fructification exter- 

 nal, scattered over the whole surface of the frond, consisting of roundish ovate 

 spores, mixed with short, articulated, club-shaped filaments, and forming little 

 tufts or sori. Name from punctum, "a point or dot," in allusion to the dots of 

 fructification. 



PuNCTARiA plantaginea. — Frond membranaceous, rather thick, linear- 

 lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, generally much attenuated to the base, 

 brown when old. 



PrNCTARiA idantaginea. — Grev. Alg. Brit. p. 53, t. 9 ; Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. 

 p. 278 ; Wyait, Alg. Damn. No. 206 ; Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 25 ; Harv. 

 in Mack. Fl. Hib. part 3, p. 175 ; Harv. P. B. plate 128; Harv. Man. 

 p. 41 ; Harv. Syn. p. 36; Atlas, plate 11, fig. 43; Harv. N. B. A. 

 part 1, p. 115 ; /. G. Agardh, Sp. Gen. Alg. vol. i. p. 73. 



DiPLOSTROMiUM idantayineum. — Kiitz. Phyc. Gen. p. 298. 



ZoNARiA plantaginea. — Ag. Sp. Alg. vol, i. p. 138 ; Ag. Syst. p. 268 ; Spreng. 

 Syst. Veg. vol. iv. p. 326. 



Ulva plantaginea. — Roth, Cat, Bot. vol. ii. p. 243, and vol. iii. p. 326 ; E. Bot. 

 t. 2136. 



Ulva plantaginifolia. — Wulf. Crypt. No. 3; Lyngh. Hyd. Dan. p. 31, t. 6. 



Laminaria plantaginea. — Ag. Syn. p. 20. 



Hab. — On stones, old shells, and rocks in pools between tide-marks; occasionally on 

 Algffi. Annual. Spring and summer. Not uncommon at irregular intervals all round 

 the English, Irish, and Scottish Coasts. 



Geogr. Dist. — Atlantic shores of Europe. 



Description. — Root, a minute disc. Frond subcylindrical, filiform 

 at the base, very slender, three to six lines in length, and scarcely 

 thicker than a stout hair, gradually expanding to the middle or nearly 

 to the summit, then tapering to an obtuse point, forming a more or 

 less nan'ow-lanceolate or eUiptic-lanceolate frond, six to ten inches or 

 a foot in length, and from a quarter of an inch to one and a-half 

 inch in breadth ; when perfect generally tapering into a somewhat 

 obtuse point at the summit, which is the normal form, but, especially 

 in old fronds, the tapering summit is more or less' abraded as in 

 similar species ; the margin generally slightly waved, and mostly quite 

 entire, but occasionally split down into two or more lacinise, at first, 



