All the Desmarestias have high acid content. You often see them bleached out on the beach, and they will also bleach any adjacent algae.

Phylum: Phaeophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Desmarestiales
Family: Desmarestiaceae
Desmarestia intermedia (Postels and Ruprecht)

Description:  This plant is dark brown in colour, up to 60 cm. high, very profusely branched, wiry; branches mostly compressed, about 1.5mm. wide except near the base, where the main axes are up to 5 mm. wide and cylindrical. Branching is fasiculate below, mostly alternate above, occasionally opposite.

Habitat:   On rocks in the upper subtidal zone.
Pacific Coast Distribution: Bering Sea to Oregon.
Robert Scagel, 1972
Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae at Race Rocks

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The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. -Ryan Murphy 2005

 

Phylum: Phaeophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminaracea
Laminaria groenlandica (Rosenvinge)

Description: This plant is dark brown to black in colour with a conspicuous holdfast, blade, and stipe. The stipe varies in length from 10 cm. or less to 60 cm. in length, from terete to complanate, and is 3-4 mm. diameter. The holdfast is relatively small, made up of many branched root-like structures. The blade is 60-90 cm. long, 7-12 cm. wide, sometimes deeply dissected, and it may be completely smooth, with only two rows of bullations, or densely bullate over the entire surface. The base of the blade is broadly rounded.
Habitat: On rocks in the upper subtidal zone.
Pacific Coast Distribution: Bering Sea to Oregon. Robert Scagel, 1972
Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae at Race Rocks

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File

The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Ryan Murphy PC yr 26

 

Phylum: Phaeophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminaracea
Laminaria saccharina (L.) Lamouroux

Description: This plant is rich brown colour with a conspicuous holdfast, blade, and stipe. The holdfast is composed of branched root-like structures. The stipe varies in length from 5 to 50 cm., from 6 to 9 mm. in diameter, is terete, flattening above the base of the blade.   The blade is smooth, with or without two rows of bullations, sometimes undulate, and tapered to broadly rounded at the base; it is 12-18 cm. broad and 2.5-3.5 m. long.
Habitat: On rocks in the lower intertidal and upper subtidal zones.
Pacific Coast Distribution: Alaska to Oregon and in the Channel Islands, California.  Robert Scagel, 1972

Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae at Race Rocks

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File

The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. -Ryan Murphy PC yr 26

 

Description: This blade-like plant is yellowish brown, with a linear undivided blade up to 4 m. long and 18 cm. wide; the blade is thick and rigid below, thinner above; three to five prominent longitudinal folds run the full length of the blade. The base of the blade tapers (or is broadly rounded) to a stipe that is up to 25 cm. long, flattened above and cylindrical below, where it terminates in a prominent discoid holdfast.

Habitat:           On rocks in the upper subtidal zones.
Pacific Coast Distribution:           Bering Sea to Washington.
Robert Scagel, 1972

Classification:

Eukarya
Phylum: Phaeophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminariaceae
Cymathere triplicata (Postels and Ruprecht) J. Agardh
Common name -three-ribbed kelp

There is a publication called “Seaweed-assisted, benthic gravel transport by tidal currents” which  has shown the role of Phaeophytes like this in depositing rocks and gravels on beaches.   An example of this can be seen in this posts on the MetchosinCoastal  website. ( To be added)

See all Phaeophytes in the Race Rocks Taxonomy

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The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Ryan Murphy PC yr 26

 

Cystoseira geminata
Description: This plant is profusely branched, yellowish brown to dark brown in colour, reaching a height of 2-5 m. The plant is fastened to the substrate by a stout discoid holdfast.           A short, terete stipe arises from the holdfast. This stipe is soon dissected into a number of stout radially arranged primary branches, which in turn bear long filiform secondary branches.         The long filiform branches produce shorter alternately arranged tertiary branchlets. Near the base these tertiary branchlets undergo a few divisions, become markedly flattened and leaf-like, and give the basal region of the plant the appearance of a fern frond. These flattened branches are short, lanceolate in shape, with smooth margins, and are ribless.           The ultimate branchlets have inflations, or air vesicles, borne singly or in pairs or chains.

Habitat:           On rocks in the lower intertidal and upper subtidal zones.

Pacific Coast Distribution:           Bering Sea to Washington.
Robert Scagel, 1972

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Chromalveolata
Phylum: Heterokontophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Fucales
Family: Fucaceae
Genus: Cystoseira geminata (L.) C.Agardh, 1820 [1]

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File

The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Ryan Murphy, PC Year 26

 

Alaria marginata is recognized because the sporophyll length is less than 5 times its width, and its found in the lower intertidal and subtidal regions from Alaska to Monterey, California. In Race Rocks area, Alaria marginata‘s habitat is the north area of the island. Its located at 0 level tide (rocky intertidal or low tide zone). Its long stipes are usually destroyed by the waves pushing the kelp against the rocks. The broken pieces desintegrate in the sea water. Alaria tends to out-compete in areas of high- wave action. In summer time, when the tide is considerably low, and the sun is too harsh for the organisms that are living in tidepools, the life of these pools migrates down, and hides under the  Alaria marginata kelp. The kelp protects these organisms. The reproductive sporophytes are low on the blade. They contain a chemical that discourages gazing.One of the uses for this kelp is to harvest it and sell it for food. People eat it with salads, or cooked. Alaria marginata is one of the seven species which represent the winged kelp Alaria (Latin: wing) in this area. Each species consists of a branched holdfast that gives rise to a stipe up to 60 cm. long but usually less than 30cm. Arranged along the upper third of the stipe are two rows of sporophylls of various sizes .

and shapes. Alaria marginata is from 2 – 3 metres or -10 feet long.
Classification:
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Protista
Division: Phaeophyta
Order: Laminariales
Family: Alariceae
Genus: Alaria
Species: marginata
Common Name: Short stipe alaria or drilly kelp
Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae at Race Rocks

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File

The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Constanza Holzapfel Dec.12, 2002