Birds and Nature Vol. 11 No. 1 [January 1902]

James Stephen Compton.

IRISH MOSS

(Chondrus crispus lyngb.)

A weary weed toss’d to and fro,Drearily drench’t in the ocean brine.– Cornelius G. Fenner, “Gulf-Weed.”

Those who have spent any time along the sea shore will recall the familiar seaweeds washed upon the bank by the tide and have watched them idly waving to and fro in the water near the shore where the depth does not exceed several meters. There are perhaps no plants more beautiful from the purely artistic point of view. Many a visitor to a distant sea coast has collected and mounted the more beautiful and delicate ones as souvenirs to delight the eye of friends. The delicate coloring and manifold branchings are the characteristic of the more attractive species. Some are quite small, while others grow to enormous size. The so-called “sea lettuce” is of a bright grass green color, forming a large leaf like expansion. The Gulf weed, a species of Sargassum, is very plentiful in the gulf regions of the southern United States, Mexico and Central America. During heavy storms great quantities of this are torn loose from their fastenings and carried far out into the Atlantic where they form the Sargassa sea and impede ocean traffic. The sailors on the ships of Columbus encountered such a sea and revived their hopes of soon seeing land, as they rightfully conjectured that the sea weeds were washed from the shore.

Sea weeds in general are variously employed. They are the sources of iodine and bromine. They are collected in large quantities and used as fertilizers. The Chinese and Japanese use some species very extensively as food. The stipes or stalks of Laminaria cloustoni are used in surgery.

Sea weeds and other aquatic plants serve as a protection and food for a host of animals of the seas; especially fish, cray-fish, lobsters, etc. The smaller fish in trying to escape from his larger, ravenous enemy hides among these plants. Bryant, in Sella says:

“Here were mighty grovesFar down the ocean-valleys, and betweenLay what might seem fair meadows, softly tingedWith orange and with crimson. Here aroseTall stems, that, rooted in the depths below,Swing idly with the motion of the sea;And here were shrubberies in whose mazy screen,The creatures of the deep made haunt.”

Chondrus crispus, the plant of our sketch, is a sea weed of the Atlantic. It is quite plentiful along the shore lines of the Atlantic states, Ireland and England. It is commonly known as Irish moss, though it is not a moss at all. It is also known as Carrageen moss or Carrageen. It is a perennial plant, 3 to 10 inches high, consisting of a flat, much branched thallus, as shown in the illustration. It is variable in its coloring, greenish purple, purplish brown, grayish purplish brown, etc., somewhat waxy or translucent in appearance. It is also very variable in form; no two specimens being exactly alike. It attaches itself to rocks, pebbles and boulders by means of a basal disk which serves merely as a mechanical support, the frond or thallus absorbing its nourishment from the sea water. In consistency the plant is cartilaginous, mucilaginous, and is entirely dissolved on boiling. When dry it becomes very hard, brittle and elastic and assumes a light-yellowish, translucent appearance. Chondrus crispus is closely similar to Gigartina mamillosa, another sea weed, with which it is usually associated.

Irish moss is extensively collected along the coast of Massachusetts. The plants being spread high up on the beach to dry and bleach in the sun. Its principal use is in medicine, although it has perhaps no curative properties in itself. It is a demulcent and emollient, that is the mucilage present tends to allay irritation of inflamed mucous membranes as in sore throat, pulmonary complaints, etc. It has been extensively employed as a popular remedy in dysentery, kidney troubles and pneumonia. Its principal use at the present time is as an article of diet, in the preparation of soup, blanc mange and jellies. Sometimes it is combined with chocolate or cocoa, sugar, lemon juice, etc., to improve the flavor.

Bandoline, a fixative for keeping hair in curl is commonly prepared from carrageen. It is also used as sizing for paper, straw hats, felt hats, cotton goods and for thickening the colors used in calico printing. It is also used for clarifying coffee, beer and other drinks.

Carrageen is a word of Irish origin and was apparently originally applied to sea weeds in general. The Irish were the first to use this plant medicinally and as a food.

Albert Schneider.

THE CARDINAL FLOWER

I love each flower beneath the sun,Wherever it buds and blows;From the pale arbutus that hides like a nun,To the flushed and queenly rose.But the cardinal flower to me is bestAs close by the rivulet’s brimIt regally wears its flaming crest,In the woodlands cool and dim.I long to lie in the pine tree’s shade,Or tread on the tufted moss;If once away from the ways of trade,I’d care not for gain or loss.I would peacefully fall asleep at nightTo the sound of singing streams,With the glowing cardinal’s flower of lightTo illumine the realm of dreams.– Belle A. Hitchcock.