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Laminaria hyperborea (Gunnerus) Foslie

Description: Dark brown, to 2 m in length; with a claw-like holdfast, a rough, rigid stipe, generally covered in epiphytes, and a laminate blade to 1.5 m long dividing into finger-like segments.
Distinguishing features: Stipe is circular in crossection, and snaps easily when bent; in Laminaria digitata the plants are darker in colour, the stipe is generally shorter, narrower. In Saccharina latissima (formerly Laminaria saccharina) the blade is undivided and has regular, small depressions
Habitat: Common at low water in wave-exposed areas, and in the subtidal in optically clear water growing on rock to a depth of 32 m. Forms extensive closed communities at depths of 0-24 m.
Distribution: All coasts of Britain and Ireland.
Usage: Dredged in Norway for alginate production, in Ireland cast-up stipes used to be collected for alginate production in Scotland but collection has ceased in reent years.

Species list

Laminaria hyperborea

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