SIPHONACE^. 19 



Sect. 3. Ciiauvinia, Bory ; Fronds terete, simple or branclied, set with tri-multifa- 

 rious, leaflike, saccate, or thornlike ramuli (ramenta). 



5. Caulebpa clavifera, Ag. ; surculi naked, glabrous, robust ; fronds erect, simple, 

 short or elongate, more or less densely set on all sides with scattered, clubshaped, 

 pyriform, or nearly topshaped ramenta. Ag. Syst. 1. p. 437. Chauvinia clavifera, 

 Kiitz. Sp. Alg. p. 498. Ahnfeldtia racemosa, A. Lamourouxii, and A. uvifera, 

 Trevis. I. c. pp, 141-142. Fucus clavifer, Turn. Hist. t. bl. F. Lamourouxii, Turn. 

 t. 229. F. uvifer. Turn. t. 230. 



Hab. Sand covered rocks, about low- water mark, and at a greater depth. Key West 

 and Sand Key, W. H. II., Professor Tuomey ; Conch Key and Key Biscayne, Professor 

 Tuomey (v. v.) 



Surculi robust, glabrous, glossy, one or two lines in diameter, spreading in dense 

 mats, copiously supplied on the under surface with dense, excessively divided, fibrous, 

 and deeply penetrating roots. Fronds erect, crowded, varying very much in length, 

 according to the depth of water at which the plant grows, and from other circumstances 

 affecting its luxuriance. Sometimes the erect portion of the frond is scarcely an inch 

 in length, sometimes it is six, eight, or even ten inches long. It varies also in diameter 

 from half a line to a line or more, and is more or less densely set on all sides with 

 scattered, incrassated, very obtuse saccate ramenta. In the variety called Lamourouxii 

 these ramenta are inserted in a distant spiral so as to look almost distichous ; in other 

 varieties, and especially in that called uvifer, they are densely crowded and inbricated, 

 like grapes in a cluster. Numerous intermediate forms connect these extreme ones. 

 The shape of the ramenta is also very variable. When young, they are simply clavate; 

 but with advancing age they become more and more swollen at the ends, and at length 

 are pear-shaped, or, in some stunted specimens, top-shaped. Stunted specimens some- 

 what resemble C. sedoides, and have been mistaken for that species, which, however, dif- 

 fers in several respects. 



This plant is common to the tropics of both hemispheres, and is particularly abun- 

 dant on the coral reefs of the Pacific, where it puts on many different forms, and varies 

 much in luxuriance. It is one of the species eaten as a salad by the natives, and some 

 of the European residents, of the Friendly and Feejee Islands, who call it Limu 

 (Lee-moo). I cannot consent to separate specifically the forms figured by Turner, and 

 above indicated as varieties. I fear also that C. oUgophylla, Mont., if I rightly under- 

 stand that species, must be regarded as an extreme form, nearly destitute of ramenta. 

 I gathered what I take to be Montague's plant at Vavau, in the Friendly Islands, where 

 its peculiarities seemed to arise from the circumstances of its habitat, which was in a 

 very rapid tide-stream between two islets. 



6. Caulerpa Lycopodium ; surculi and stipites of the fronds tomentose with brand- 



D 2 



