Laminaria

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Laminaria
Laminaria hyperborea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Chromalveolata
Phylum:	Heterokontophyta
Class:	Phaeophyceae
Order:	Laminariales
Family:	Laminariaceae
Genus:	Laminaria J. V. Lamouroux
Species
c. 30 species; see text

Laminaria is a genus of 31 species of brown algae (Phaeophyceae), all sharing the common name "kelp". Some species are also referred to as tangle. This economically important genus is characterized by long, leathery laminae and relatively large size. Some species are referred to by the common name Devil's apron, due to their shape,^[1] or sea colander, due to the perforations present on the lamina.^[2] It is found in the north Atlantic Ocean and the northern Pacific Ocean at depths from 8 to 30 m (26 to 98 ft) (exceptionally to 120 m (390 ft) in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean Sea and off Brazil).^[3]

Main article: Laminaria stick

The name also refers to the use of this algae to dilate the cervix when induction of pregnancy is necessary. It serves to absorb moisture and then expand, subsequently expanding the cervix.
The greater proportion of commercial cultivation is for algin, iodine and mannitol, which are used in a range of industrial applications. In South Korea it is processed into a sweetmeat known as laminaria jelly. The largest producer of kelp products is China. ^[4]
According to C.Michael Hogan the life cycle of the genus involves a diploid generational system.^[5]
Laminaria japonica (J. E. Areschoug — Japón) ^[6] is now regarded as a synonym of Saccharina japonica^[7] and Laminaria saccharina is now classified as Saccharina latissima.^[8]

Species

• Laminaria abyssalis A.B. Joly & E.C. Oliveira — South American Atlantic^[9][10]
• Laminaria agardhii Kjellman^[11] — North American Atlantic ^[12]
• Laminaria appressirhiza J. E. Petrov & V. B. Vozzhinskaya ^[13]
• Laminaria brasiliensis A. B. Loly & E. C. Oliveira
• Laminaria brongardiana Postels & Ruprecht ^[14]
• Laminaria bulbosa J. V. Lamouroux
• Laminaria bullata Kjellman
• Laminaria complanata (Setchell & N. L. Garder) Muenscher
• Laminaria digitata (Hudson) J. V. Lamouroux
• Laminaria ephemera Setchell — Pacific of North America: From Vancouver to California ^[15]
• Laminaria farlowii Setchell — Coast of the North American Pacific ^[15]
• Laminaria groenlandica — British Columbia
• Laminaria hyperborea (Gunnerus) Foslie — Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea and North Sea.
• Laminaria inclinatorhiza J. Petrov & V. Vozzhinskaya
• Laminaria multiplicata J. Petrov & M. Suchovejeva

Laminaria digitata, Cyanotype by Anna Atkins, 1843

• Laminaria nigripes J. Agardh
• Laminaria ochroleuca Bachelot de la Pylaie
• Laminaria pallida Greville — South Africa, ^[16] Indian Ocean, Canary Islands and de Tristán da Cunha ^[17]
• Laminaria platymeris Bachelot de la Pylaie
• Laminaria rodriguezii Barnet
• Laminaria ruprechtii (Areschoug) Setchell
• Laminaria sachalinensis (Miyabe) Miyabe
• Laminaria setchellii P. C. Silva
• Laminaria sinclairii (Harvey ex J. D. Hooker & Harvey) Farlow, Anderson & Eaton — North American Pacific coast ^[15]
• Laminaria solidungula J. Agardh
• Laminaria yezoensis Miyabe