it. ]7 



V. FUCUS. 



10. vesiculosus {The twin-bladdered Fucus)\ frond flat, cori- 

 aceous, thick, linear, dichotomous, quite entire al the ma 

 midribbed; air-vessels globose or elliptical, mostly in 

 (often absent ) ; receptacles turgid, elliptical, ovate, or lane fo- 

 late, terminal, Linn.Sp. Pip. L626. (Atlas, PL III. Fig.10.) 

 Fucus divaricatus, Linn. Y. inflatus, Linn. Y. spiralis, /. 

 P. volubilis, Hixls. Y. Sherardi, Stack. F. linearis, 11 

 Y. distichus, Lightf. Y. Balticus, ./.>/. 

 llah. On rocks and Btones lefl exposed at lowwaterj also on ar- 

 tificial piers and quays in estuaries, extending up rivers :i- 

 long as tin- water remains sensibly brackish. Perennial 

 Summer and winter. Very abundant. 

 The commonest and one of the most widely-diffused spe- 

 cies of the restricted genus Fucus. It abounds along the 

 Bhores oi k the Northern Atlantic extending even t<> the i ro- 

 pics, and is said to have been found in the southern portion 

 of that ocean, hut the southern localities w aid con tin nation. 

 In the Pacific, it has been collected on the north-west coast 

 of America. As may he judged by the numerous synonym.^, 

 this is rather a variable plant, hut the variations may be 

 summed up in a few words. The firsl and most obvious is 

 in size; some specimens, fully grown and in fruit, being 

 not an inch in length, while others extend to Beveral feet. 

 The dwarfish individuals, constituting our var. 0, grow in 

 brackish water and in muddy places. Other varieties are 

 destittde of air-vessels, or have the air-vessels of a length- 

 ened figure; and others vary in the shape of the fructifica- 

 tion, the receptacle being sometimes globose, sometimes 

 ellipsoidal, and sometimes spindle-shaped. Lastly, the 

 frond is frequently spirally twisted. On characters such 

 as these, the eight hook-species, quoted as synonyms, have 



been constituted. Fucus vesiculosus is largely used in the 

 manufacture of kelp: and also yields mannite in consider- 

 able quantity. In the north of Europe, when the vege- 

 tation of the land ceases, or 18 covered with snow, it fur- 

 nishes an abundant w inter fodder for cattle, which regularly 



visit the Bhores, at the retreat of the tide, in search of it. 



Various are the uses to which the Icelanders and Green- 

 Landers apply it, as LinnSBUS and others inform US, 

 11. ceranoides {Thr hom-Uke Fucus) ; frond plane, ooriaoeo- 

 membranaoeous, linear, Bubdichotomous, entire at the mar- 

 gin, midribbed, without vesicles j lateral branchei narrower 







