Alaria esculenta (Linnaeus) Greville
Description: Plants with olive or yellow-brown fronds to
4 m long and 25 cm wide, more often about 1 m and 7.5 cm wide.
Attached by a root-like holdfast at the base from which a narrow
flexible stipe arises which continues into the leafy part of the
plant as a distinct mid-rib, generally with a yellow-brown
colour (above). The reproductive structures, apparent as
dark-brown areas, are confined to unbranched leafy appendages
borne on the stipe, usually in two rows.
Habitat: Generally growing on rock in wave-exposed
places, often forming a band at low water and in the shallow
subtidal, but also occurring in tidal pools in the lower
shore.
Distinguishing features: Two kelps in the NE Atlantic
have distinct midrib: the introduced alien
Undaria pinnatifida
(currently on the S coast of England and NW France) and
Alaria esculenta. In Undaria, the midrib is
much more flattened and is more or less the same colour as the
frond, and the reproductive structures are borne basally in a
fluted structure. In Alaria, the midrib is more or less
terete (circular in crossection), is usually a lighter colour,
and the reproductive structures are borne at the base of the
frond in special leaflets called sporophylls (below).
Link:
AlgaeBase
Photographs © M.D. Guiry
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