Meristotheca papulosa
species of alga
Meristotheca papulosa (synonyms: M. japonica and Eucheuma papulosa) is a red alga, popular as a sea vegetable in Taiwan, where it is known as jiguancai (Chinese: 鸡冠菜; pinyin: jīguāncài, literally "cockscomb vegetable"), and in Japan, where it is known as tosaka-nori (Japanese: トサカノリ), which can be prefixed with aka (red) so as to distinguish it from the ao (green) and shiro (white) varieties.
Description
The plant tissue varies in color from red to peach, the texture is fleshy and cartilaginous, and the shape is flat and leaf-like, with irregular deep forking divisions. The edges often grow many branchlets of uneven lengths. The surfaces of older individuals will grow warty or spiky protuberances. The morphology is variable. Length can reach 10–40 cm, with a branch width of 1–5 cm. The interior of the algal body has multiple axes.
Life cycle
It has isomorphic alternation of generations (the sporophyte and the gametophyte share a very similar appearance). The tetrasporangia are divided in a ladder shape and scattered across the cortex.
Ecology and distribution
It grows on subtidal rocks 5–20 metres deep, and can be seen at all times of the year.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Meristotheca papulosa” is species of alga. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Meristotheca, papulosa and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 6, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q6819517. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Meristotheca papulosa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.