Category: Plants, Algae, & Fungi

Tis the Season to Grow for the Brown Seaweed Desmarestia herbacea (Acid Weed)

Bridgette Clarkston

Award winner

The big beautiful brown seaweed Desmarestia herbacea (common name: acid weed) can be over 2m long and is found throughout coastal British Columbia, including at Stanley Park. In springtime, as the new crop of acid weed grows, they are covered in delicate branched filaments that make the young seaweeds look fuzzy and adorable. Some of these filaments are important for the body to grow taller and more branched. All of the filaments are lost by summer. So if you see them, you know it must be early springtime! Fun fact: 'acid weed' is so named because these seaweeds produce sulfuric acid. Citrus substitute, anyone?