''Cystoseira foeniculacea'' is a species of

brown alga Brown algae (: alga) are a large group of multicellular algae comprising the class Phaeophyceae. They include many seaweeds located in colder waters of the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and polar reg ...

in the genus ''

Cystoseira ''Cystoseira'' is a genus of brown algae in the order Fucales. Description As presently defined, ''Cystoseira'' comprises fucoids characterised by Antheridium, antherozoids without stigmata, few Antheridium, antheridial branches, trichothallic h ...

''.

Description

''Cystoseira foeniculacea'' forms tufts up to long, attached to the substrate with a broad disc-shaped

holdfast Holdfast most often refers to: *Holdfast (biology), a root-like structure that anchors aquatic sessile organisms to their substrate *Holdfast (tool), a tool used to secure a workpiece to a workbench or anvil Holdfast or hold fast may also refer t ...

. It has many cryptostomata, and

conceptacle Conceptacles are specialized cavities of marine and freshwater algae that contain the reproductive organs. They are situated in the receptacle and open by a small ostiole.Boney, A.D. (1969). ''A Biology of Marine Algae''. Hutchinson Educational ...

s that may be male, female or both. Up to 12

oogonia An oogonium (: oogonia) is a small diploid cell which, upon maturation, forms a primordial follicle in a female fetus or the female (haploid or diploid) gametangium of certain thallophytes. In the mammalian fetus Oogonia are formed in lar ...

may develop in each conceptacle. The proximity of the oogonia and the antheridia strongly suggest that ''C. foeniculacea'' self-fertilises.

Distribution

''Cystoseira foeniculacea'' is found in the mid-

littoral zone The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely flood ...

and in other sheltered places, from the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, and in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

Taxonomy

''Cystoseira foeniculacea'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in his seminal 1753 work ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

'', under the name "''Fucus foeniculaceus''". Three other species described by Linnaeus were also later determined to refer to the same species by

Dawson Turner Dawson Turner (18 October 1775 – 21 June 1858) was an English banker, botanist and antiquary. He specialized in the botany of cryptogams and was the father-in-law of the botanist William Jackson Hooker and of the historian Francis Palgr ...

, who chose the epithet "''foeniculacea''" as the valid name (under the "principle of the first reviser"). The

vernacular name Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More n ...

"bushy feather wrack" has been proposed for this species.

References

External links

*
Linnaeus' original description
in ''

'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q22695197 Fucales Protists described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Brown algae species