Laminaria digitata (Hudson) J.V. Lamouroux
Common names:
Coirleach, Ribíní (Ir); Oar Weed,
Oarweed, Tangle, Strapweed (En). Description: Dark brown,
to 2 m in length; with a claw-like holdfast, a smooth, flexible
stipe, and a laminate blade to 1.5 m long split into finger-like
segments.
Distinguishing features: The stipe is oval in crossection, and does not snap easily when
bent; in
Laminaria hyperborea
the plants are lighter in colour, the stipe is generally longer,
thicker, circular in crossection, and snaps easily when bent,
and the holdfast is conical. In
Saccharina latissima
(formerly Laminaria saccharina) the blade is undivided
and has regular, small depressions known as bullations.
Habitat: very common in the lower intertidal and shallow
subtidal growing on rock in Britain and Ireland. May form
extensive meadows at low water (top picture from Robin Hood's
Bay, Yorkshire). Underwater plants are more golden in colour in
sunlight.
Distribution: Common on all coasts of Britain and Ireland
except for the east and south-east coast of England from
Yorkshire to the N coast of Kent; otherwise distributed from
Svalbard, Iceland and northern Russia south to Brittany. In the
western Atlantic from the NE coast of Greenland south to Cape
Cod and, although less common, to Long Island. Not known
elsewhere.
Usage: Harvested in France (Brittany) for alginate
production; and in Ireland and France in small quantitites for
sea-vegetable production.
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