Codium

Holmes, type definition herbarium specimen pressed Codium is a genus of edible green macroalgae (or seaweed) under the order Bryopsidales. The genus name is derived from a Greek word that pertains to the soft texture of its thallus. One of the foremost experts on Codium taxonomy was Paul Claude Silva at the University of California, Berkeley. Silva was able to describe 36 species for the genus, and in honor of his work on Codium, the species C. silvae was named after him.

Holmes, type definition herbarium specimen pressed]] Codium is a genus of edible green macroalgae (or seaweed) under the order Bryopsidales. The genus name is derived from a Greek word that pertains to the soft texture of its thallus. One of the foremost experts on Codium taxonomy was Paul Claude Silva at the University of California, Berkeley. Silva was able to describe 36 species for the genus, and in honor of his work on Codium, the species C. silvae was named after him. ==Morphology== Being a member of the order Bryopsidales, Codium is coenocytic and siphonous. Their spongy thallus is composed of a single, multinucleated, branched, tubular cell called siphon which terminates at a swollen end called the utricle. These siphons intertwine with each other to form the clear mesh-like center of the Codium thallus called the medulla while the utricles surround this central layer to form a green to dark-green palisade layer called the cortex. The genus has a wide variety of thalli forms: (1) mat-forming, the thalli encrusts and adheres to given a substrate using its medullary filaments; (2) spherical, the thalli forms a ball and is superficially attached to an area using rhizoidal filaments; and (4) erect thalli, typically dichotomously branched with its medulla surrounded by utricles. In addition to its thalli variations, the utricles which forms its thallus also has variety of forms, mainly based on their apical wall thickness and apex shapes. Similar to most seaweed species, Codium species also exhibit a wide range of morphological plasticity which has been a great challenge to its morphology-based taxonomy. ==Distribution== In terms of its natural range, Codium has a latitudinal range that encompasses the tropical to temperate areas, however, this genus is not found in the frigid polar regions of the world. ===Ireland=== Two of these species are very rare in Ireland. Codium adhaerens has been recorded from a few sites on the west coast and from Tory Island on the north coast in County Donegal. In 1837 it was found in Church Bay in County Antrim, but has not been found there since. Codium adhaerens C.Agardh Codium bursa (Linnaeus) C.Agardh - has been found in Mulroy Bay in County Donegal in 1977 (specimen in the Ulster Museum) and 1988. There is an old record of it from "near Belfast" between 1793 and 1810. Codium fragile (Suringar) Hariot Codium fragile subsp. atlanticum (A. Cotton) Silva Codium tomentosum Stackhouse Codium vermilara (Olivi) Delle Chiaje There are other species of "doubtful validity":- Codium amphibium is included in William Henry Harvey's Phycologia Britannica Pl.xxxv. and noted as: "spreading in patches of great extent along the edge of the sea, over the surface of a turf-bog which meets the shore at Roundstone Bay" (Ireland). ===Worldwide=== Codium arabicum Kütz. - Australia Codium arenicola Chacana & P.C.Silva - Australia Codium australasicum P.C.Silva - Australia Codium bernabei A.V.González, M.E.Chacana & P.C.Silva - Chile Codium bulbopilum Setch. - Australia Codium bursa C.Agardh. - North Atlantic and Mediterranean Codium capitulatum P.C.Silva & Womersley - Australia Codium convolutum (Dellow) P.C.Silva - New Zealand Codium cranwelliae Setch. - New Zealand Codium cuneatum S. & G. - California (United States) Codium decorticatum - Global Codium duthiae Silva - Australia, Tasmania, and South Africa Codium dwarkense Børgesen - Australia Codium edule - Indo-Pacific, including Hawaii Codium extricatum Silva - Cape Agulhas to southern KwaZulu-Natal Codium fragile (Suringar) Hariot - Nova Scotia (Canada) Codium fragile Sui song - (Chinese) Japan, American Pacific from Alaska to Cape Horn, Australia and New Zealand, British Isles, Norway, Denmark, and Netherlands Codium fragile subsp. capense Silva - South Africa Codium galeatum J.Agardh - Australia Codium geppiorum O.C.Schmidt - Australia and Indo-Pacific South Africa Codium harveyi P.C.Silva - Australia Codium hubbsii Daws. - California (U.S.A.) Codium intertextum Collins & Hervey Codium isthmocladum Vickers Codium johnstonei Silva - California (U.S.A.) Codium laminarioides Harv. - Australia Codium lucasii Setchell - Australia, Tasmania Codium mamillosum Harv. - Australia Codium muelleri Kütz. - Australia Codium perriniae A.H.S.Lucas - Australia Codium pomoides J.Agardh - Australia Codium ritteri - Northern Pacific (Alaska, British Columbia, Kamchatka) Codium setchellii Gardn. - California (U.S.A.) Codium silvae Womersley - Australia Codium spinescens P.C.Silva & Womersley - Australia Codium spinulosum Y. Lee - Korea Codium spongiosum Harv. - Australia Codium strangulatum Chacana & P.C.Silva - Australia Codium taylorii Silva - Australia Codium repens (P.Crouan & H.Crouan) Vickers Codium tenue (Kütz.) Kütz. - Australia Codium tomentosum Stackh. - Australia ==References==

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