Note 26 — Chapter VIII

Information concerning them may be met with in Gosselin (Historia Fucorum): travellers have paid scant attention to this branch of botany. The wracks feed man and beast, and serve for fuel, bed stuffing, and other domestic purposes: consequently some forty-four kinds have been described, especially that impostor, the Zostera marina, which lies in loose heaps. The most common are the Fucus palmatus, Sacchurinus esculentus, edulis, fœniculaceus, and digitatus. The first-mentioned is the Sol, eaten in Ireland and in Scotland, where it is called Dulce: at Oreback (Eyrarbakka), it sells for 70 fishes per voet (= 80 lbs.). The second, F. saccharinus (Alga saccharifera), is the Welsh Laver, whose spirally-twisted leaves, six feet long by one broad, become straight when dry. In the Shetlands the larger fuci in general are called Tangle, Tang, and Ware, and are extensively used as manure.