ETYM Formerly kilpe; of unknown origin.
Large brown seaweeds having fluted leathery fronds.
Seaweed ashes, yielding iodine; several large brown seaweeds.
Collective name for large brown seaweeds, such as those of the Fucaceae and Laminariaceae families. Kelp is also a term for the powdery ash of burned seaweeds, a source of iodine.
The brown kelp Macrocystis pyrifera, abundant in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters, is one of the fastest-growing organisms known, reaching 100 m/320 ft. It is farmed for the alginate industry, its rapid surface growth allowing cropping several times a year, but it is an alien pest in N Atlantic waters. + prikaži više

Plant growing in the sea, especially marine algae.
Any of a vast collection of marine and freshwater, simple, multicellular plant forms belonging to the algae and found growing from about high-water mark to depths of 100–200 m/300–600 ft. Some have holdfasts, stalks, and fronds, sometimes with air bladders to keep them afloat, and are green, blue-green, red, or brown.
Many have traditionally been gathered for food, such as purple laver Porphyra umbilicalis, green laver Ulva lactuca, and carragheen moss Chondrus crispus. From the 1960s, seaweeds have been farmed, and the alginates extracted are used in convenience foods, ice cream, and animal feed, as well as in toothpaste, soap, and the manufacture of iodine and glass.
The ribbonlike seaweed Undaria arrived in the Mediterranean in the 1980s from Japan attached to imported oysters and is now being grown by the French for export to the Asian market. + prikaži više