A popular history of British seaweeds : comprising their structure, fructification, specific characters, arrangement, and general distribution, with notices of some of the fresh-water algae / by D. Landsborough.

  • Landsborough, D. (David), 1779-1854.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A popular history of British seaweeds : comprising their structure, fructification, specific characters, arrangement, and general distribution, with notices of some of the fresh-water algae / by D. Landsborough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    they will grow for years, though they get no nourishment except what they derive from the air by their surface. We doubt not, then, that in some instances, such as the floating Sargassum, sea-plants grow without deriving any nourish- ment by roots, but we are disposed to regard such cases as. exceptions from the general rule. We cannot persuade ourselves that they draw no nourishment from the sub- stances to which they are attached. They show a decided preference for certain kinds of rocks and Algae, and their growth is more luxuriant when they are found on those they prefer. Limestone seems a great favourite with some, and the abundance of limestone rock on many parts of the Irish coast, is probably one reason why many of the Irish specimens put to shame the English and Scottish dwarfs of the same species. It is well known also that there are several species that grow both on rocks and on large Algae, and it is as well known that, in the same habitat, those growing on rocks and those on Algae differ considerably in appearance, and this seems to be owing to different nourish- ment by roots, as other circumstances are the same.