The Elements of Botany, For Beginners and For SchoolsGray, Asa
Science
The Elements of Botany, For Beginners and For Schools
Gray, Asa
Plants
[Illustration: Fig. 553. Agarum Turneri, Sea Colander (so called from
the perforations with which the frond, as it grows, becomes riddled);
very much reduced in size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 554. Upper end of a Rockweed, Fucus vesiculosus,
reduced half or more, _b_, the fructification.]
508. The common Rockweed (Fucus vesiculosus, Fig. 554, abounding between
high and low water mark on the coast), the rarer Sea Colander (Agarum
Turneri, Fig. 553), and Laminaria, of which the larger forms are called
Devil's Aprons, are good representatives of the olive green or brownish
Seaweeds. They are attached either by a disk-like base or by root-like
holdfasts to the rocks or stones on which they grow.
[Illustration: Fig. 555. Magnified section through a fertile conceptacle
of Rockweed, showing the large spores in the midst of threads of cells.
556. Similar section of a sterile conceptacle, containing slender
antheridia. From Farlow's "Marine Algæ of New England."]
509. The hollow and inflated places in the Fucus vesiculosus or Rockweed
(Fig. 554) are air-bladders for buoyancy. The fructification forms in
the substance of the tips of the frond: the rough dots mark the places
where the conceptacles open. The spores and the fertilizing cells are in
different plants. Sections of the two kinds of conceptacles are given in
Fig. 555 and 556. The contents of the conceptacles are discharged
through a small orifice which in each figure is at the margin of the
page. The large spores are formed eight together in a mother-cell. The
minute motile filaments of the antheridia fertilize the large spores
after injection into the water: and then the latter promptly acquire a
cell-wall and germinate.
510. The Florideæ or Rose-red series of marine Algæ (which, however, are
sometimes green or brownish) are the most attractive to amateurs. The
delicate Porphyra or Laver is in some countries eaten as a delicacy, and
the cartilaginous Chondrus crispus has been largely used for jelly.
Besides their conceptacles, which contain true spores (Fig. 560), they
mostly have a fructification in _Tetraspores_, that is, of spores
originating in fours (Fig. 559).
[Illustration: Fig. 557. Small plant of Chondrus crispus, or Carrageen
Moss, reduced in size, in fruit; the spots represent the fructification,
consisting of numerous tetraspores in bunches in the substance of the
plant. 558. Section through the thickness of one of the lobes,
magnified, passing through two of the imbedded fruit-clusters. 559. Two
of its tetraspores (spores in fours), highly magnified.]
[Illustration: Fig. 560. Section through a conceptacle of Delesseria
Leprieurei, much magnified, showing the spores, which are single
specialized cells, two or three in a row.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account