Fig. 105. POLYSIPHONIA ELONGATA. 
Colour. Dark red ; becoming almost black in drying, all but the finer tips. 
Substance. Stems robust and firm ; branchlets flaccid. 
Character of Frond. Tufts of jointed threads irregularly branched. Stems as thick 
as whipcord ; they and the branches tapering at both ends. (See figure.) Branches 
producing but few branchlets the first year. In winter, these and the tips of the 
branches die off, leaving the frond stunted, and often very unsightly till the following 
spring ; when a new growth commences ; the broken branches putting out vigorous 
shoots, which end in fine tufts of crimson branchlets, as figured in Fig. 106 ; and on 
these the fructification is borne. Joints marked with several upright lines (internal 
tubes) seen through the branchlets. 
Internal Tubes. Four primary ones ; several secondary. 
Measurement. From 6 to 12 inches long. 
Fructification. Of two kinds. 1. Clustered spores in ovate, stalkless (sessile) capsules; ex- 
ternal ; on the branches ; either clustered or scattered. 2. Tetraspores, either 
imbedded in the ends of swollen branchlets, or borne in minute pod-like processes 
on the branches. 
Habitat. Our coasts generally. On stones, shells, corallines, &c. In pools between tide- 
marks, and in from five to ten fathoms’ water. 
Although the structure is strictly jointed (articulated, see figure), the articulations of the 
stem and primary branches are indistinct, from the surface cells being small and irregularly 
placed. For other Polysiphonias, see Plate XXV. &c. 
Fig. 106. POLYSIPHONIA ELONGATA. Var. 
This form is no longer recognized as a variety, but merely as the second summer’s condition 
of F. elongata. (See last description.) It is the var. y. sanguinolenta of Agardh, and the 
P. rosea of Greville. In the same manner the bare winter condition was at one time taken for 
a variety, and called var. yS. denudata. 
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