''Fucus gardneri'' is a species of

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and '' Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

, a

brown alga Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and p ...

living on the littoral shore of the Pacific coasts of North America. It has the common names of rockweed and bladderwrack.

Description

''Fucus gardneri'' is olive brown in colour and similar to ''Fucus spiralis''. It grows to long and branches somewhat irregularly dichotomous and is attached, generally to rock, by a discoid holdfast. It has airsacks at the top.

Life history

The tips of mature individuals swell up and provide flotation for the plant as well as reproductive chambers for developing sperm and eggs. During low tide, the swollen tips dry up squeezing out sperm and eggs which unite into a zygote during the next flood tide and settle onto a substratum.

Ecology

Rockweed can form thick bands in the middle intertidal on rocky substrates. The other common species of ''Fucus'': ''

Fucus spiralis ''Fucus spiralis'' is a species of seaweed, a brown alga (Heterokontophyta, Phaeophyceae), living on the littoral shore of the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. It has the common names of spiral wrack and flat wrack. Description ''Fu ...

'', '' Fucus vesiculosus'' and '' Fucus serratus'' along with ''

Ascophyllum nodosum ''Ascophyllum nodosum'' is a large, common cold water seaweed or brown alga (Phaeophyceae) in the family Fucaceae, being the only species in the genus ''Ascophyllum''. It is a seaweed that only grows in the northern Atlantic Ocean, also known in ...

'' form the main and dominant seaweeds on rocky shores. These three species, along with two others ''

Pelvetia canaliculata ''Pelvetia canaliculata'', the channelled wrack, is a very common brown alga (Phaeophyceae) found on the rocks of the upper shores of Europe. It is the only species remaining in the monotypic genus ''Pelvetia''. In 1999, the other members of this ...

'' and ''

'' form the zones along the shore.

Uses and history

Native Americans historically harvested the dried swollen tips of ''Fucus gardneri'' – sometimes referred to as "Indian pop corn". When the airbubbles are popped, it secretes a thick lotion, very moisturizing.

References

External links

Fucus gardneri
at

Algaebase AlgaeBase is a global species database of information on all groups of algae, both marine and freshwater, as well as sea-grass. History AlgaeBase began in March 1996, founded by Michael Guiry. Text was copied from this source, which is avail ...