Ser. MelanospermejE. Fam. Ectocarpece. 



Plate IV. 



ECTOCARPUS BRACHIATUS, m 



arv. 



Gen. Char. Filaments capillary, jointed, olive or brown, flaccid, single 

 tubed. Fruit ; either spherical, elliptical, or lanceolate capsules borne 

 on the ramuli, or imbedded in their substance. 



Ectocarpus bracJiiatus ; frond finely tufted, feathery, much branched ; the 

 branches free, opposite or quaternate ; ramuli opposite, spreading j cap- 

 sules imbedded in the branches, forming oblong swellings situated on 

 the lesser branches or in the axils of two opposite ramuli. 



Ectocarpus brachiatus, Harv. in Hook. Br. Fl. vol. ii. p. 326. Man. p. 42. 



Wyatt. Alg. Damn. no. 174. 

 Ectocarpus cruciatus, Ag. Sp. Alg. vol. hi. p. 44. Endl. 3rd Suppl. p. 21. 

 Conferva brachiata, Eng.Bot. t. 2571. 



Hab. Rare. At Cley, on the coast of Norfolk, in ditches of brackish wa- 

 ter, among Enteromorpha compressa, 1808, Sir IF. J. Hooker; in the 

 sea, growing on Rhodomenia palmata, at Torquay, Mrs. Griffiths. 

 Youghall, July 1837, Miss Ball. Lambray, 1 838, Mr. IF. Thompson. 



Geogr. Distr. Only known on the coast of England, and east and south of Ireland. 



Desc. Frond 2-4 inches high, finely tufted, wavy and feathery; the main stems 

 slightly entangled, excessively branched, all the branches and branchlets 

 opposite or quaternate; the lesser branches generally naked below, but fur- 

 nished in their upper half with one or two pair of opposite spreading 

 ramuli, which are in like manner furnished with similar smaller ones. Cap- 

 sules immersed in the joints of the branches, often containing a double or 

 bipartite mass, usually situate at the nodes of the branchlets. Colour a 

 pale olive green. 



There is some confusion in the history of this plant, which is 

 one reason why I give it an early figure in this work. In the 

 year 1801, Mr. Dawson Turner, and in 1808, Sir AV. J. Hooker, 

 found in ditches of brackish water by the sea side on the Norfolk 

 coast a plant of which a figure and description appeared in the 

 'English Botany' under the name of Conferva brachiata. That 

 figure evidently represents a species of Ectocarpus, having opposite 

 branches and immersed fruit. The Norfolk plant has not been 

 found of late years, and no specimen now exists in Sir W.J. 

 Hooker's Herbarium. The English Botany plate consequently re- 

 mained for many years the only record of the species, until Mrs. 



