96 BKITISH SEA-WEEDS. 



in tide-pools, and varies in size according to the depth 

 of the water. In places occasionally exposed to the air 

 it is stunted. Near low-tide mark it is more luxuriant. 

 It is perennial, and in perfection in summer. 



Rytiphlcea fruticulosa. Shrubby Rytiphloea. 



Fronds from four to six inches long, irregularly branched 

 from the base upwards, striped crosswise throughout, of 

 a dark purple colour, which changes to a more or less yel- 

 low-green when the plant is exposed to the rays of the sun. 

 Stems cylindrical, tapering upwards, intertwined ; branches 

 forked, spreading, much and irregularly divided above; 

 branchlets alternate, spreading, thickly studded over the 

 whole frond, those near the base not more than a quar- 

 ter of an inch long, those higher up longer, and furnished 

 with awl-shaped secondary branchlets. Spores in numer- 

 ous, stalkless, almost round conceptacles ; tetraspores tri- 

 partite, in distorted branchlets. 



This species, like the last, grows on rocks or sea- 

 weeds, in tide-pools, where its spreading, spurred 

 branches become entangled with each other, or with 

 neighbouring sea-weeds into masses .of considerable 

 size. It is perennial, and may be found during sum- 

 mer in most localities on our southern and western 

 shores. Some of the praises which poets have bestowed 

 on the loveliness of a rose bedecked with dew may 

 fairly be claimed for this little plant, which, when fresh 

 drawn from the sea, presents the same kind of beauty 

 under another aspect. Each of its terminal branchlets 

 brings with it from its briny home a tiny, sparkling 

 drop of water which clings to it, as though in a last 

 embrace, for several seconds in the upper air. These 



