This beautiful plant was added to the British Flora by Mrs. 
Griffiths in the year 1813, and has been occasionally, but very 
regularly, found m the same locality since that period, In 
some seasons it makes its appearance in considerable plenty, 
and may not again be seen for several years. I believe it has 
always been found among rejectamenta, as if cast up from deep 
water. The south coast of England is perhaps its northern 
limit. On the French and Spanish coasts, and especially m the 
Mediterranean, it is much more abundant ; but British specimens 
are quite as large and as abundantly covered with fructification 
as any from more southern stations. In many characters it 
bears a close resemblance to the G. ichenoides of the East Indies, 
with which Dr. Greville formerly associated it; and Mrs. Griffiths, 
in the belief that these plants were identical, prepared a pickle 
and a preserve—both of which proved excellent in flavour as 
well as ornamental—from our British G. compressa ; thus proving 
that our plant is quite as valuable for the table as its Indian 
cousin. 
G. compressa has something the aspect of G. confervoides, but 
may always be known by its more succulent frond, and very 
different substance. It is as soft and brittle, as G. confervoides 
is hard and tenacious. It also bears some resemblance to the 
narrow variety of G. multipartita, but is more cylindrical, and of 
a different, and much brighter colour. 
Fig. 1. GRACILARIA CoMPRESSA :—the natural size. 2. Section of a tubercle. 
3. Tetraspores :—both highly magnified. 
