Desmarestia ligulata

Flattened acid kelp

Authority: (Stackhouse) J.V.Lamouroux

Thallus is golden to olive brown, ligulate, reaching 80 cm (31 in) tall, with opposite, flattened branches to several orders and a main axis and branches with faint midrib and lateral veins.

Habitat

This annual occurs in the low intertidal and subtidal of semi-protected to semi-exposed habitats. This species has a high acid content and causes specimens to quickly break down.

North Pacific Distribution

Unalaska Island, Alaska to Baja California, Mexico; Korea; Japan; Russia

Former scientific names

Herbacea ligulata

Comments

The identity of all these populations with true D. ligulata remains to be verified; Peters et al. (1997, J. Phycol. 33:294) show that some of these populations are molecularly divergent from European populations.

References

AlgaeBase (opens in a new tab)

Last updated December 26, 2010