Fig. 330. ENTEROMORPHA COMPRESSA. 



Colour. A pleasant^ briglit grass-green; fading pale^ yellow^ and white. 

 Substance. Membranaceous; thin. 



Character of Frond. Cylindrical or somewhat compressed; occasionally 

 thread-like {filamentous)] tubular; more or less branched. Branches 

 alternate; widening gradually upwards; blunt at the tips; tapering to 

 a m6re thread at the base; sometimes simple^ sometimes re-branched 

 again and again. Occasionally contracted at intervals as if tied in. 

 Tips blunt throughout. 



Measurement. From \ of an inch to 12 inches long. Of every width from 

 a hairshreadth to ^ of an inch. 



Fructification. As in the preceding. 



Habitat. On every coast everywhere. In brackish ditches also, and occa- 

 sionally in inland waters. In a large sheet — almost a lake — in Clomber 

 Park. Yery common. 



Varying as this plant does in size, amonnt of brandling, and bushiness, it 

 may always be recognised among other Enteromorjihas by the blunt tips and 

 tapering bases of its branches. In one cnrious variety the stems are one-sixth 

 of an inch wide, fringed all over with hair-like branchlets. 



Figt 331. ENTEROMORPHA LINKIANA. 



Colour. A very pale green. 



Substance. Membranaceous^, but firm; rigid when dry. 



Character of Frond. Thread-like [filamsntous); cylindrical; tubular; inflated; 

 rising with a main stem, set with branches on every side. Branches 

 long, slender, between erect and spreading, tapering to the tips; re- 

 branched with a second similar set, only finer; these with a third, 

 quite hair-like. Tips pointed throughout. 



Measurement. From 6 to 12 inches long. 



Fructification. As before. 



Habitat. Appin; once found. 



The microscopic characters of this plant are very like those of Tj. clathrata, 

 E. ereda, and JE. ramosa. The branches are wider, however, than those of F. 

 clathrata, and it has not the thorny branchlets of any of the three. 



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