IRISH MOSS. 



{Chondrus crispus lyngb.) 



A weary weed toss'd to and fro, 

 Drearily drench't in the ocean brine. 



— Cornelius G. Fenner, "Gulf-Weed. 



Those who have spent any time along 

 the sea shore will recall the familiar sea- 

 weeds washed upon the bank by the tide 

 and have watched them idly waving to 

 and fro in the water near the shore 

 where the depth does not exceed several 

 meters. There are perhaps no plants more 

 beautiful from the purely artistic point of 

 view. Many a visitor to a distant sea 

 coast has collected and mounted the more 

 beautiful and delicate ones as souvenirs 

 to delight the eye of friends. The deli- 

 cate coloring and manifold branchings are 

 the characteristic of the more attractive 

 species. Some are quite small, while oth- 

 ers grow to enormous size. The so-called 

 ''sea lettuce" is of a bright grass green 

 color, forming a large leaf like expan- 

 sion. The Gulf weed, a species of Sar- 

 gassum, is very plentiful in the gulf re- 

 gions of the southern United States, 

 Mexico and Central America. During 

 heavy storms great quantities of this are 

 torn loose from their fastenings and car- 

 ried far out into the Atlantic where they 

 form the Sargassa sea and impede ocean 

 traffic. The sailors on the ships of Co- 

 lumbus encountered such a sea and re- 

 vived their hopes of soon seeing land, as 

 they rightfully conjectured that the sea 

 weeds were washed from the shore. 



Sea weeds in general are variously em- 

 ployed. They are the sources of iodine 

 and bromine. They are collected in large 

 quantities and used as fertilizers. The 

 Chinese and Japanese use some species 

 v.ery extensively as food. The stipes or 

 stalks of Laminaria cloustoni are used in 

 surgery. 



Sea weeds and other aquatic plants 

 serve as a protection and food for a host 

 of animals of the seas; especially fish, 

 cray-fish, lobsters, etc. The smaller fish 

 in trying to escape from his larger, raven- 



ous enemy hides among these plants. 

 Bryant, in Sella says : 



"Here were mighty groves 



Far down the ocean-valleys, and between 



Lay what might seem fair meadows, softly 



tinged 

 With orange and with crimson. Here arose 

 Tall stems, that, rooted in the depths below, 

 Swing idly with the motion of the sea; 

 And here were shrubberies in whose mazy 



screen, 

 The creatures of the deep made haunt." 



Chondrus crispus, the plant of our 

 sketch, is a sea weed of the Atlantic. It 

 is quite plentiful along the shore lines of 

 the Atlantic states, Ireland and England. 

 It is commonly known as Irish moss, 

 though it is not a moss at all. It is also 

 known as Carrageen moss or Carrageen. 

 It is a perennial plant, 3 to 10 inches 

 high, consisting of a fiat, much branched 

 thallus, as shown in the illustration. It is 

 variable in its coloring, greenish purple, 

 purplish brown, grayish purplish brown, 

 etc., somewhat waxy or translucent in ap- 

 pearance. It is also very variable in 

 form ; no two specimens being exactly 

 alike. It attaches itself to rocks, pebbles 

 and boulders by means of a basal disk 

 which serves merely as a mechanical sup- 

 port, the frond or thallus absorbing its 

 nourishment from the sea water. In con- 

 sistency the plant is cartilaginous, mucil- 

 aginous, and is entirely dissolved on boil- 

 ing. When dry it becomes very hard, 

 brittle and elastic and assumes a light- 

 yellowish, translucent appearance. Chon- 

 drus crispus is closely similar to Gigar- 

 tina mamillosa, another sea weed, with 

 which it is usually associated. 



Irish moss is extensively collected 

 along the coast of Massachusetts. The 

 plants being spread high up on the beach 

 to dry and bleach in the sun. Its princi- 

 pal use is in medicine, although it has per- 



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