(Name from ala, "a wing," in allusion to the winged leaflets at the base of the frond).

This beautiful plant is abundant on the northern coasts of England and Scotland, and extends throughout the whole of the Northern and Pacific Oceans. It flourishes in the deepest water and on the most exposed rocks; the roughest sea seems to be its chosen playfellow, though the delicate fronds are worn and torn by the rude waves, and we rarely find a specimen in a perfect state. The colour is clear olive yellow; the root is a mass of round strong branching fibres, the stem as thick as a small goose-quill, naked in its lower part for the length of two to four inches, then clothed with leaflets without a rib, four inches long, after which the frond begins, and varies from three to twenty feet in length, the margin plaited and split here and there like a frond of hart's-tongue fern. The fructification is microscopic, formed on the leaflets, which appear, when in fruit, as if partially covered with a brown crust. This crust consists of dense masses of slender transparent spore-cases, on a stalk containing four spores set in a cruciform manner.

The plant is eaten in Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, and the Faroe Islands, and has various household names - "Badderlocks," "Henware," "Honeyware," and "Murlins." Four other species are natives of America and of Asia.

To prepare seedweeds for food they must first be steeped in water, to which add a little carbonate of soda; this will remove saline particles and take off their bitterness. Then stew them in water and milk till they are tender. Serve them flavoured with pepper and vinegar.