74 LAURENCIACE^. 



V. 



branches, horizontal, truncate, very short, simple or tubercled, sometimes slightly 

 longer and pivmulate. Colour of the branches pale red or waxy yellow. Substance 

 cartilaginous and brittle. In drying, the plant shrinks much, and very imperfectly 

 adheres to paper. 



What I call var. /?. differs from the normal form in being more regularly pinnate 

 and bipinnate, with closer branches. It is also of a brighter colour, and its rarauli 

 are sometimes expanded at the apex into perforate or umbilicate cups, and rather 

 more compound than in var. a. 



This plant grows commonly at Key West in shallow water between tide-marks 

 on the north side of the town. I cannot refer it to any described species. It is 

 much more robust than L. obtusa. Its very flexuous irregular ramification, bud- 

 like ramuli and brittle substance distinguish it from other Key West species. 



7. Laurencia papulosa, Grev. ; fronds terete, cartilaginous, sub-pinnate or 

 irregularly decompound ; branches filiform, simple, densely covered with short, 

 quadrifarious, horizontal, simple or lobed papilliform ramuli ; conceptacles ovate, 

 sessile. J. Ag. Sp. Alg. 2, p. 756. Chondria papillosa, Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. 1, p. 344. 

 Fucus thyrsoides, Turn. Hist. t. 19. 



Hab. Florida Keys. Key West, Mr. Binney, W. H. H. (33), Prof. Tuomey, (54, 

 56,57). (v. V.) 



Fronds tufted, 4 — 6 inches long, as thick as a sparrow's or as a crow's quiU, terete, 

 undivided or vaguely forked, naked below, branching above. Branches directed 

 every way, either distant or densely crowded, simple, one to three inches long, 

 virgate, tubercled with close-set quadrifarious, wart-like ramuli, which in old speci- 

 mens are multifid and much distorted. Colour a dull purple, changing to green. 

 Substance firmly cartilaginous. In drying, it scarcely adheres to paper. 



Somewhat variable in ramification and in size, but readily known by the densely 

 crowded, wart-like ramuli with which the branches are completely covered. In 

 old specimens these ramuli are much compounded, and resemble miniature heads 

 of cauliflower. 



8. Laurencia scoparia, J. Ag. ; " greenish, somewhat horny ; frond terete, fili- 

 form, distichously decompound ; branches irregularly set, erecto-patent, some 

 opposite, some secund, virgate; fertile ramuli, very short, tufted at the apices of the 

 branches, subclavate, bearing tetraspores under the truncate apices." J. Ag. Sp- 

 Alg. 2. p. 746. 



Hab. La Guayra, Herb. Binder. 



" Two to four inches high, densely tufted, rigid, with the substance and nearly 

 the habit of Ahnfeltia plicata. Frond as thick as sparrow's quill, very much 

 branched." 



