Chapter 1 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE L AMIN ARI ACE AE 
Linnaeus (1737-1758) once placed the marine algae as a whole 
in a single genus Fucus. In 1813, Lamouroux first established the 
genus Laminaria and placed in it all of the so-called kelps. In 
1826, Bory classified Laminaria and several other similar genera 
in the family LaminarieaeA Some of them, however, were revealed 
later to need exclusion from this family. After that, Decaisne 
(1842), Endlicher (1836-1847), Kützing (1849), and J. G. Agardii (1848, 
1867, 1868, 1870, 1872) engaged successively in the taxonomic study 
of the Laminariaceae. Among the systems established by those 
workers, Agardh’s was most complete in those days. 
In 1893, Setchell published a new system, laying stress on 
the nature of the blade, whether simple or divided, and on the 
character of the formative tissue at the transition place. In his 
system, the Laminariaceae consists of three subfamilies and nine- 
teen genera as follows : 
Subfamily 1. Laminariideae. Blade simple, except in Thalassio- 
phyllum. Among the genera belonging to this subfamily, Chorda, 
Laminaria, Costaria, Agarum, Thalassiophyllum, and Arthrothamnus 
are represented in the region under consideration. 
Subfamily 2. Lessoniideae. Blade simple only while young, later 
splits at the transition place and finally becomes compound. No 
representative of this subfamily is found in Japan. 
Subfamily 3. Alariideae. Blade compound, being divided pin- 
nately. Undaria, Ecklonia, and Alaria are to be listed here. 
In the same year, Kjellman published his system which appears 
to be nearly a perfect one. A part of his key which is concerned 
with the genera represented in the Japanese waters will be quoted 
here as follows : 
1) The name Laminarieae was first proposed by BORY in 1822, and is used as the 
name of a subfamily in the Laminariaceae by SETCHELL and GARDNER (1925, p.594). 
The proper family name Laminariaceae was first used by REICHENBACH in 1828 (cf. 
Setchell and Gardner, loc. cit., p. 593). (Footnotes are all by Jun Tokida). 
