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Genus (i.e. Fucus)
Species (i.e. Gardneri)
Common Name (i.e. Rock Weed)
Phylum (i.e. Ochrophyta)
All of the above
Ribbon Kelp
Alaria marginata
Authority:
Postels et Ruprecht
North Pacific Distribution:
Aleutian Is., Alaska, to Point Conception, California.
Phylum:
Ochrophyta
Class:
Phaeophyceae
Order:
Laminariales
Family:
Alariaceae
Former Scientific Names:
Alaria valida
Description: Thallus of this common intertidal kelp is brown with a branched holdfast (haptera), a stipe, cylindrical near the base but flattened near the blade, that can reach 30 cm (12 in) or more in length, and a thin, lanceolate blade up to 3 m (10 ft) long with solid midrib. Twenty to forty elliptical sporophylls form in spring on the upper portion of the stipe and grow up to 25 cm (10 in) long, thickening with maturity. Habitat: This kelp is an annual found on rock in the mid to low intertidal from semi-protected (if there is sufficient current) to exposed habitats.

Comments:
Distribution based on unpublished manuscript by Lane, Lindstrom & Saunders.

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