94, BRITISH MARINE ALG. 
save in colour, which, on high exposed rocks retains no shade of red or 
purple; being of a dirty brownish olive, sometimes even green, or a dull 
yellow ; and when cast ashore is generally bleached white. The substance 
of this plant is firm and leathery, and although the branches are mostly 
flat and pretty regularly disposed, they require to be pruned here and 
there before they are submitted to pressure. Well-grown plants of this 
species, with requisite care in mounting, form beautiful specimens for 
the herbarium. L. pinnatifida has a strong pungent taste, and in Scotland, 
where it is eaten, it is commonly known as “ pepper-dulse.”’ The 
spores of this plant are contained in broad ovate capsules which are 
seated on each side of the branchlets, tetraspores are embedded in the 
ramuli. L. hybrida (Agardh), formerly L. cespitosa, or the tufted Laurencia, 
is found on stones, and in shallow rock pools between tide-marks. This 
species rarely attains the size of the foregoing; its branches are shorter 
and more bushy, and all the divisions of the plant are more or less 
cylindrical, being rarely compressed or flattened, as in L. pinnatifida. 
The ramuli are generally very much crowded, spreading on all sides of the 
branches, tapering towards the base, and truncated at the tips. The 
colour varies from a dark olive to a pale greenish yellow, and occasionally, 
in shady situations, attaining a lurid purple tint. Some writers consider 
this plant to be merely a shore variety of L. pinnatifida (Fig. 88), or, at 
most, as intermediate between it and L. obtusa, two branchlets of which 
are represented at Fig. 89. One bears ovate ceramidia, the other tetra- 
spores, which are immersed without order near the tips of the ramuli. 
This species is a Summer annual, and is most abundant on the southern 
shores of England. It grows on the Fuci, but is generally found cast 
ashore. Mature plants, when properly displayed, form elegant specimens 
for the herbarium, being of a fine pink or rose-red, and having a beautiful 
pyramidal outline. The stems and branches are pretty nearly of a similar 
thickness throughout; the branches and ramuli are mostly opposite; 
and all the terminal divisions are truncate or obtuse, whence the specific 
name. 
The elegant plant which is represented by a few branches at Fig. 90 is, 
as Dr. Harvey has observed, ‘‘ one of the most distinctly marked species of 
its tribe, and so unlike any other British alga, that it must be recognised 
ata glance.’ The delicate cilia, or spine-like ramuli, which border every 
part of the frond, and which are arranged with strict regularity, being 
placed alternate to each other, and opposite either to a capsule or to 
a branch, afford marks that cannot be mistaken. The generic name, 
Bonunemaisonia, is in honour of Mons. Bonnemaison, a French naturalist ; 
the specific, that of asparagoides, is very appropriate, its resemblance 
to the mature asparagus plant being very striking. This beautiful annual 
is a deep-water plant. It is often cast ashore on the South Devonshire 
coast, particularly in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, but my finest 
specimens were dredged in Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran. The colour is 
a brilliant crimson, the substance is soft and delicate, and the fronds being 
