Algae
Original title: Algas
Survey of the algae recorded in Madeira, Porto Santo and the Desertas (373 species, 211 of them diatoms), naming characteristic marine and freshwater species and where they occur. It also notes the seminary museum's algae collection and the specialists who identified specimens.
Algae of the archipelago
In Madeira, Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) and the Desertas (‘deserted islands’) 373 species of algae have been found to date, 211 of which belong to the diatom group (Diatomaceae). Of the remaining 162 species, 127 are marine and 35 live in streams, tanks, damp places and levadas (irrigation channels); for many of them only the names of their genera are known. Enteromorpha compressa is extremely common on the stones uncovered at low tide, and Ulva Lactuca, Padina Pavonia, Cystoseira ericoides, etc., are also rare at certain points of the coast that are covered or washed by the sea.
Laminaria saccharina, which grows to a large size, occurs near Ponta de São Lourenço, where Sargassum bacciferam and two species of the genus Liagora, one of them L. pulverulenta, have also been found.
Corallina officinalis, Jannia rubens, Gelidium corneum and other Rhodophyceae are not rare at Ponta Delgada (‘slender point’) and at some points on the south coast.
In the streams, levadas and pools of Madeira a species of Oedogonium (perhaps O. capilliforme) is abundant, and on damp rocks and near waterfalls the globular Nostoc verrucosum is common, sometimes associated with Anabaena flos-asquae and other Myxophyceae.
In the Ribeira de João Gomes (‘João Gomes’s stream’), under the bridge at Curral dos Romeiros (‘pilgrims’ fold’), lives the very rare Lemanea fluviatilis, a filamentous, leathery alga, and in the nearby pools the following Desmidiaceae have been found: Staurastrum muticum, Cosmarium Botrytis, C. margaritiferum and Closterium acerosum. The Seminary Museum (Museu do Seminário) holds a collection of marine algae identified by Professor Ernst Schmitz of the University of Greifswald, and in 1910 the Revd Schodduyn, of Pas-de-Calais, identified several freshwater algae sent to him by the present author.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 10
Abroad
- Curral dos Romeiros
Funchal. Locality whose bridge and nearby pools host rare freshwater algae and desmids.
Curral dos Romeiros is a much-visited locality in the parish of Monte, at the bottom of a large valley on the road to Choupana, with a small waterfall on the Ribeira de João Gomes. It is overlooked by the Babosas viewpoint and visible from the Largo da Conceição. Rare freshwater algae and desmids are found at its bridge and nearby pools.
- Desertas
Santa Cruz. Island group where algae were recorded.
An island group near Madeira that was already separated from it at the last eruptions and shares endemic species with it. It was the main orchil-harvesting area, and Wollaston found 89 beetle species there. The islands were investigated by scientific expeditions, including the Endurance scientists in 1914.
- Ponta de São Lourenço
Machico. Headland near which large Laminaria saccharina, Sargassum and Liagora are found.
The Ponta de São Lourenço is the long, narrow eastern headland of Madeira in the parish of Caniçal, said to be named after the caravel São Lourenço, with a lighthouse on its islet. The Elucidário describes its geology, seasonal vegetation, islets, fossil calcareous bodies at Piedade, land snails and use as pasture. The steamer Forerunner sank there in 1884, and a submarine bank lies between it and the Desertas.
- Ponta Delgada
São Vicente. Coastal locality where red algae such as Corallina officinalis are not rare.
Ponta Delgada is a parish on Madeira's north coast, one of the three parishes of the concelho of São Vicente, with a headland and a small fishing harbour. Its feast of Senhor Jesus is a great pilgrimage of vows, and it was the seat of a capitania-mor. It recorded 409 cholera deaths in 1856.
- Porto Santo
One of the islands where the algae were recorded.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.
- Ribeira de João Gomes
Funchal. Stream where the very rare Lemanea fluviatilis lives beneath the Curral dos Romeiros bridge.
The Ribeira de João Gomes is a stream in Funchal that rises in the Serra do Poiso, receives the Ribeira das Cales and was once called Ribeira de Nossa Senhora do Calhau. It marked the eastern limit of the planned city walls and of the parish of Santa Luzia, and the Calhau church stood beside it. The 1941 municipal slaughterhouse stands on its right bank.
- Seminary Museum
Funchal. Museum holding a collection of marine algae identified by Schmitz.
The Museu do Seminário is a museum in Funchal. It holds a copy of Stübel's relief map, a collection of marine algae identified by Schmitz, and specimens of both Madeiran bat species.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Professor at the University of Greifswald who identified the marine algae collection held in the Seminary museum in Funchal.
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Clergyman from Pas-de-Calais who in 1910 identified freshwater algae sent to him by the Elucidário's author.