. Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden. Plants. SOME PLANTS FROM TROPICAL SEA GARDENS 563 which the delicate root hairs penetrate the calcareous sand and attach to themselves small particles of this sand, thus making anchorage hawsers in a bottom that is not altogether stable. The rootlike part, in the attached algae, is supposed to serve simply as a holdfast. These sea plants often affix themselves to smooth hard rock, or some- times to pieces of iron or glass, from which they can evidently draw little or nothing in the way of nourishment. Their food is apparently derived directly
. Contributions from the New York Botanical Garden. Plants. SOME PLANTS FROM TROPICAL SEA GARDENS 563 which the delicate root hairs penetrate the calcareous sand and attach to themselves small particles of this sand, thus making anchorage hawsers in a bottom that is not altogether stable. The rootlike part, in the attached algae, is supposed to serve simply as a holdfast. These sea plants often affix themselves to smooth hard rock, or some- times to pieces of iron or glass, from which they can evidently draw little or nothing in the way of nourishment. Their food is apparently derived directly from the sur- rounding water and air and is taken in directly by the general surface of the plant. In the case of these Udoteas and their relatives, however, with their highly developed systems of sand-burrowing rhi- zoids, it may be suspected that these rhizoids play a part in the gathering of food as well as in anchoring the plant. What are commonly called "sea fans" by frequenters of the sea are organisms of a very different nature from those here de- scribed under the name of mermaid's fan. They are larger and are colonial animals related to the corals. Another interesting and attractive mem- ber of the group of lime-coated green algae is the sea fir (Rhipocephalus phoenix), the center of whose distribution appears to be the Bahama Banks. This plant is usually from two to six inches high and when grow- ing on the sea bottom is very suggestive of the little German Christmas trees that were. THE MERMAID'S FAN, Udotea conglutina, from Bimini Harbor, Bahama Islands. (Natural size). Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original New York Botanical Garden. New York : The Garden
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectplants, bookyear1899
