Ser. MelanospermeyE. Tarn. Ectocarpece. 



Plate CC. 



ECTOCARPUS GRANULOSUS, Ay. 



Gen. Char. Frond capillary, jointed, olive or brown, flaccid, single-tubed. 

 Fruit either spherical, elliptical, or lanceolate utricles (or spores) 

 borne on the ramuli, or imbedded in their substance. Ectocarpus 

 {Lyngb.), — from euros, external, and <apnos, 



Ectocarpus granulosus; filaments olive, the principal divisions slightly 

 entangled ; branches free, feathery ; the lesser branches and ramuli 

 opposite, spreading j utricles elliptical, dark coloured, sessile on the 

 ramuli. 



Ectocarpus granulosus, Ag. Syst. p. 163. Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. ii. p. 45. Harv. 

 in Hook. Fl. Brit. vol. ii. p. 326. Harv. in Mack. Fl. lllb. part 3. p. 182. 

 Midi. §rd Suppl. p. 21. Harv. Man. p. 42. Wyatt, Alg. Damn. no. 38. 



Conferva granulosa, E. Bot. t. 2351. 



Hab. On rocks ; also on Corallines and various other Algae, in rock-pools 

 between tide marks. Annual. May and June. Not uncommon on 

 the English and Irish coasts. 



Geogr. Distr. Heligoland. Coast of France. 



Descr. Root, a small disc. Filaments more or less densely tufted, capillary, 

 from four to eight or ten inches long, much branched, with more or less of 

 a principal, undivided stem, furnished with lateral branches of unequal 

 length, so that the habit is often virgate. The chief divisions somewhat 

 matted together, but all the lesser ones free and distinct, standing out on 

 all sides, in a feathery manner. Lesser branches and ramuli very generally 

 opposite, sometimes alternate, spreading at wide angles, unequal, long and 

 short intermixed together without order, somewhat attenuated. Apices 

 rather acute. Articulations about as long as broad, faintly striate longitu- 

 dinally. Utricles abundantly scattered on the ramuli, elliptical, dark- 

 coloured, with a narrow liinbus, sessile on the upper faces of the ramuli. 

 Colour, when quite fresh, a clear olive, becoming green in fresh water, and 

 often yellowish as the plant increases in age. Substance soft, but not gela- 

 tinous, adhering to paper in drying. 



A well-marked and large growing species, originally discovered 

 by Mr. Eorrer, and first described and figured in English 

 Botany. It is by no means uncommon on various parts of 

 the coasts, usually growing on the smaller Algae in tide-pools, 

 though occasionally flourishing on the fronds of Lamina rite. The 

 opposite branches and ramuli, bearing dark-coloured elliptical 

 utricles on their upper side, readily distinguish this plant from 

 any of its British congeners. The species, which most nearly 



