fuch] 



Efjs EreaSurj) of 23otaug. 



510 



a tough leathery substance, and assume a 

 dark colour when dried. Many of them 

 have distinct leafy and even two-ranked 

 appendages, while others are destitute of 

 any distinction whatever between stem 

 and receptacle. In Himanthalia the frond 

 is a small cup-shaped body, the receptacle 

 being repeatedly forked and many feet 

 long. In many cases the receptacles form 

 little pod-like solitary or fasciculate bodies 

 projecting from the stem, while in others 

 they are merely slight swellings. Another 

 cause of variety of aspect arises from the 

 different nature of the air-bladders by 

 which they are sustained in the water. 

 These are sometimes entirely wanting, 

 sometimes simple, and sometimes com- 

 pound or arranged in necklace-like rows. 

 In all alike, whatever the habit may be, 

 the spores are contained in cavities re- 

 sembling the cells of Dothidea. 



Fucacece exist in all parts of the world 

 calculated forjthe growth of seaweeds, and, 

 though much more abundant as regards 

 species in warm than in temperate regions, 

 have numerous representatives in the lat- 

 ter. All are probably occasionally attached, 

 but they may exist for centuries as floating 

 masses, as in the instance of the Gulf 

 weed. Durvillcea utilis, which is remark- 

 able for its having the habit of a Laminaria, 

 though belonging truly to this order, and 

 distinguished by the large cells like those 

 of a honeycomb contained in its frond, 

 is used in Chili and elsewhere for thicken- 

 ing soup. The greater part of these plants 

 contain a great quantity of carbonate of 

 soda, which was once procured from them 

 in considerable quantities in the form of 

 kelp, and they in common with some other 

 melanosperms are a fertile source of iodine, 

 one of the most important medicines in 

 the Pharmacopoeia. [M. J. B.] 



FUCHSIA. A genus of Onagracece cha- 

 racterised by having a funnel-shaped 

 coloured deciduous four-parted calyx, 

 sometimes with a very long tube ; four 

 petals set in the mouth of the calyx-tube, 

 and alternating with its segments ; eight 

 exserted stamens ; and a long style with a 

 capitate stigma. The flowers are suc- 

 ceeded by oblong bluntly four-cornered 

 berries. 



A plausible story has been often printed 

 which attributes the introduction of the 

 Fuchsia into England to a sailor, whose 

 wife or mother was induced to sell it to 

 Mr. Lee, a nurseryman, who in the course 

 of the following summer made a protit of 

 300 guineas by the transaction. This is 

 said to have happened about the close of 

 the last century. It was, however, a hun- 

 dred years before this time that a monk 

 named Father Plumier discovered the first 

 specimen of the family, which he dedicated 

 to the memory of Melchior Adam Fuchs. 

 This first species was named Fuchsia tri- 

 phyllaflore coccineo, and a description of it 

 is to be found in the works of Plumier, 

 published in 1703. With the exception of F. 

 excorticata and F. procumbens, which are 

 natives of New Zealand, all the species 



belong to the central and southern regions 

 of America, in shady moist places, in 

 forests, or on the lofty mountains of 

 Mexico, Peru, and Chili. The number of 

 distinct species at present know-n is more 

 than fifty, which have been introduced 

 from time to time since the beginning of 

 the present century ; but the varieties 

 most prized by florists date only from the 

 year 1837, when F. fulgens was introduced. 

 The introduction of this species, and soon 

 afterwards of F. corymbiflora, cordifolia, 

 and serratifolia, gave to horticulturists the 

 opportunity of hybridising these long- 

 flowered species with the globose kinds, 

 and the result has been the annual appear- 

 ance of varieties which, from a garden 

 point of view, have surpassed their pre- 

 decessors, to be themselves eclipsed in 

 their turn. [C. A. J.] 



FUCHSIA, AUSTRALIAN or NATIVE. 

 A colonial name for Correct. 



FUCUS. A name formerly applied in- 

 discriminately to almost all the more solid 

 Algce, though now confined to a single 

 genus of Fucacece. Attempts have been 

 made to subdivide even this from slight 

 differences in the spores or in the disposi- 

 tion of the male organs. Fucus, as now 

 generally restricted, comprises those social 

 seaweeds which have a flat or compressed 

 forked frond, the air-vessels when present 

 formed by the occasional swelling of the 

 branches, or in their substance, and also 

 have receptacles filled with mucus, tra- 

 versed by a network of jointed filaments. 

 Fucus, in fact, contains such species as 

 serratus and nodosus, which are as common 

 on our coasts as grass in the fields. The 

 antherids are produced either on the same 

 or on different plants, and their spermato- 

 zoids have been proved to have active func- 

 tions from their effects on the spores, 

 which, without their access, are not capable 

 of reproducing the species, though they 

 commence an imperfect germination. 



Many of the species are more or less ex- 

 posed at low water. F. canaliculatus, how- 

 ever, which is referred by some to a distinct 

 genus, Pelvetia, is remarkable for its am- 

 phibious habit, growing as it does fre- 

 quently on large boulders, where it is dried 

 up by the sun into a hard brown mass. 

 This, however, recovers its usual appear- 

 ance entirely with the first return of the 

 tide, and is so little incommoded by the 

 change, that it even brings fruit to per- 

 fection in such situations. As, however, 

 there is a point beyond which endurance is 

 impossible, it is not known on.the coasts 

 of the United States, where the hot burn- 

 ing sun would completely destroy vitality 

 before the return of the tide. The pecu- 

 liar leathery texture of the frond seems 

 to enable it to bear considerable change 

 without inconvenience. 



These plants afford a considerable pro- 

 portion of the seaweed thrown up upon 

 our shores and collected for manure, as it 

 was formerly for making kelp. Cattle also 

 occasionally browse upon them, or they are 

 boiled and given with coarse meal as food. 



