CHAP. 49.—THE SEA BRYON.
There is another kind of marine shrub, known by the name
of "bryon;"[1] it has the leaf of the lettuce, only that it is
of a more wrinkled appearance; it grows nearer land, too, than
the last. Far out at sea we find a fir-tree[2] and an oak,[3]
each a cubit in height; shells are found adhering to their
branches. It is said that this sea-oak is used for dyeing wool,
and that some of them even bear acorns[4] in the sea, a fact which
has been ascertained by shipwrecked persons and divers. There
are other marine trees also of remarkable size, found in the
vicinity of Sicyon; the sea-vine,[5] indeed, grows everywhere.
The sea-fig[6] is destitute of leaves, and the bark is red. There
is a palm-tree[7] also in the number of the sea-shrubs. Beyond
the columns of Hercules there is a sea-shrub that grows with
the leaf of the leek, and others with those of the carrot,[8] and
of thyme. Both of these last, when thrown up by the tide,
are transformed [9] into pumice.
1. The Ulva lactuca of the moderns, a very common sea-weed.
2. The Fucus ericoïdes, Fée suggests, not unlike a fir in appearance.
3. Quercus. According to Gmellin, this is the Fucus vesiculosus of Linnæus. Its leaves are indented, somewhat similarly to those of the oak.
4. Polybius, as quoted by Athenæus, says that in the Lusitanian Sea
there are oaks that bear acorns, on which the thunnies Feed and grow fat.
5. On the contrary, Theophrastus says, B. iv. c. 7, that the sea-vine
grows near the sea, from which Fée is disposed to consider it a phanerogamous plant. If, on the other hand, it is really a fucus, he thinks that the
Fucus uvarius may be meant, the vesicles of which resemble a grape in
shape.
6. He speaks of a madrepore, Fée thinks, the identity of which it is
difficult to determine. Professor Pallas speaks of an Alcyonidium ficus,
which lives in the Mediterranean and in the ocean, and which resembles a
fig, and has no leaves, but its exterior is not red.
7. Feé queries whether this may not be the Gorgonia palma of Linnæus,
which has received its name from its resemblance to a small palm-tree.
8. These three, Fée thinks, are madrepores or zoophytes, which it would
be vain to attempt to identify.
9. That is, they dry up to the consistency of pumice.