Category: Algae
Phylum: Ochrophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Family: Laminariaceae

Other Names:
Seaweed - Brown, Giant Kelp (partic USA)
Seaweed - Brown, Butterfish Kelp

Notes
This is the tallest plant in the world! It can reach lengths of 20m or more. It has long slender stipes reaching the surface where they are buoyed in beautiful patterns by the elongated pear shaped air bladders that allow the individual blades to lie in the plane of the surface water. Blades and bladders are cut off sequentially from a terminal frond. The mature blades have a corrugated surface and the fertile blades are smoother and lack bladders. The holdfast is a circular dome made of many overlapping branched haptera (look like roots but to not have the ability to absorb nutrients). The colour is golden brown and the texture is pliable. Tends to be found in calmer bays and offshore reefs. One of the fastest growing plants in the world (30-70 cm a day in southern NZ waters). "


References
Seaweeds of NZ; Adams