Palmaria palmata
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''Palmaria palmata'', also called dulse, dillisk or dilsk (from Irish/ Scottish Gaelic '/'), red dulse, sea lettuce flakes, or creathnach, is a red alga (
Rhodophyta Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...
) previously referred to as ''Rhodymenia palmata''. It grows on the northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is a well-known snack food. In Iceland, where it is known as ' , it has been an important source of
dietary fiber Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by the ...
throughout the centuries.


History

The earliest record of this species is on the island of
Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...
, Scotland where
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
monks harvested it over 1,400 years ago.Indergaard, M. and Minsaas, J. 1991. 2 "Animal and human nutrition." in Guiry, M.D. and Blunden, G. 1991. ''Seaweed Resources in Europe: Uses and Potential.'' John Wiley & Sons.


Description

The erect frond of dulse grows attached by its discoid holdfast and a short inconspicuous stipe epiphytically on to the stipe of '' Laminaria'' or to rocks. The fronds are variable in shape and colour from deep rose to reddish purple and are rather leathery in texture. The flat foliose blade gradually expands and divides into broad segments ranging in size to long and in width which can bear flat, wedge-shaped proliferations from the edge.Hoek, C.van den, Mann, D.G. and Jahns, H.M. 1995.
Algae: An Introduction to Phycology
'. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. .
The blade consists of an outer cortex of small cells enclosing a medulla of larger cells up to 0.35 thick. The reference to ''Rhodymenia palmata'' var. ''mollis'' in Abbott and Hollenberg (1976),Abbott, I.A. and Hollenberg, G.J. 1976. ''Marine Algae of California.'' Stanford University Press, California. . is now considered to refer to a different species: '' Palmaria mollis'' (Setchel et Gardner) van der Meer et Bird.Mondragon, J. and Mondragon, J. 2003. ''Seaweeds of the Pacific Coast.'' Sea Challengers, California. . Dulse is similar to another
seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
, '' Dilsea carnosa'', but ''Dilsea'' is more leathery with blades up to long and wide. Unlike ''P. palmata'', it is not branched and does not have proliferations or branches from the edge of the frond, although the older blades may split.Hiscock, S. 1986. ''A Field Key to the British Red Seaweeds.'' Occasional Publications No. 13. Field Studies Council, Dorset Press, Dorchester .


Life history

The full life history was not fully explained until 1980. There are two phases in the life-history, that is it is
dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...
, male and female plants grow separately. The large plants are male or have sporangia. The female plants are minute, less than 1 mm) and become overgrown after fertilization by the diploid plant.Bunker, F.StP.D., Brodie, J.A., Maggs, C.A. and Bunker A.R. 2017. ''Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland'' Second Edition, Wild Nature press, Plymouth, UK Tetraspores occur in scattered patches sori (spores) on the mature blade,
diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...
blade. Spermatial sori occur scattered over most of the frond of the haploid (single cell) male plant. The female gametophyte is very small stunted or encrusted, the carpogonia, the female nucleus, apparently occurring as single cells in the young plants. The male plants are blade-like and produce spermatia which fertilize the carpogonia of the female crust. The adult tetrasporophyte produces tetraspores meiotically in fours.Irvine, L.M. & Guiry, M.D. "Palmariales and Rhodymeniales" in Irvine, L.M. 1983. ''Seaweeds of the British Isles. Volume 1. Part 2A. Cryptonemiales (sensu stricto) Palamriales, Rhodymeniales.'' British Museum (Natural History), London.


Ecology

''P. palmata'' is to be found growing from mid-tide of the
intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...
(the area between the high tide and low tide) to depths of 20 m or more in sheltered and exposed shores.


Culinary use

Dulse is commonly used as food and medicine in Ireland, Iceland,
Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
, and the Northeastern United States. It can be found in many health food stores or fish markets and can be ordered directly from local distributors. It is also used as fodder for animals in some countries. Dulse is a good source of minerals and vitamins compared with other vegetables, contains all trace elements needed by humans, and has a high protein content. Dulse contains
iodine Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
, which prevents goitre. It is commonly found from June to September and can be picked by hand when the tide is out. When picked, small snails, shell pieces, and other small particles can be washed or shaken off the plant, which is then spread to dry. Some gatherers may turn it once and roll it into large bales to be packaged later. Fresh dulse can be eaten directly off the rocks before sun-drying. Sun-dried dulse is eaten as is or is ground to flakes or a powder. When used in cooking, dulse's properties are similar to those of a flavour-enhancer. In Iceland, the tradition is to eat it with butter.. It can be pan-fried quickly into chips, baked in the oven covered with
cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
, with
salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...
, or simply microwaved briefly. It can be used in soups, chowders, sandwiches, and salads, or added to bread or pizza dough. Finely diced, it can be used as a flavour enhancer in
meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
dishes, such as chili, in place of monosodium glutamate. In Ireland dulse can be used to make "White Soda Bread". In Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, it is traditionally sold at the Ould Lammas Fair. It is particularly popular along the
Causeway Coast A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...
. Although a fast-dying tradition, many gather their own dulse. Along the Ulster coastline from
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
to County Donegal, it is eaten dried and uncooked as a snack. It is commonly referred to as dillisk on the west coast of Ireland. Dillisk is usually dried and sold as a snack food from stalls in seaside towns by periwinkle sellers. Researchers at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center have selected a fast-growing strain of Pacific dulse (''P. mollis''). Originally intended as a feed for
abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...
farming, they claim their strain of the seaweed tastes like bacon when fried.


Distribution

''P. palmata'' is the only species of ''Palmaria'' found on the coast of Atlantic Europe. It can be found from Portugal to the
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
coasts and on the coasts of Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Børgesen, F. (1903) Marine algæ. In: '' Botany of the Færöes'' Vol. II, pp. 339-532. Copenhagen and London. It also grows on the shores of Arctic Russia, Arctic Canada, Atlantic Canada, Alaska,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and Korea. Records of ''P. palmaria'' from California are actually of ''Palmaria mollis''.


Parasites and diseases

Gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
s, possibly produced by parasitic
nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...
s,
copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...
s, or bacteria, are known to infect these plants. They were recorded as "outgrowths of tissue produced by the presence...of an animal."


References


Further reading

* Grubb, V.M. 1923. Preliminary note on the reproduction of ''Rhodymenia palmata'', Ag. ''Annals of Botany'' 37: 151–52. * Pueschel, C.M. 1979. Ultrastructure of the tetrasporogenesis in ''Palmaria palmata'' (Rhodophyta). ''Journal of Phycology'' 15: 409–424. * South, G.R. and Hooper, R.G. 1980. ''A Catalogue and Atlas of the Benthic Marine Algae of the Island of Newfoundland.'' pp. 1–136. Memorial University of Newfoundland Occasional Papers in Biology. * Lennon, B.W. and Doyle, E. ''Wild Food.'' The O'Brien Press, Dublin.


External links


AlgaeBase

''Palmaria palmata''
at Michael Guiry's Seaweed Site * * {{Authority control Cuisine of Atlantic Canada Icelandic cuisine Cuisine of Northern Ireland Irish cuisine Florideophyceae Edible seaweeds Species described in 1753 Edible algae