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Porphyra umbilicalis
Also called Slake, Purple Laver
Porphyra umbilicalis is a thin, sheet-like red seaweed that grows attached to rocks in the intertidal zone. It is harvested from the wild and eaten, most famously as laverbread in Wales.
Porphyra umbilicalis, commonly known as laver, is a species of seaweed in the genus Porphyra. It is smooth in texture and forms delicate, sheetlike thalli, reaching 25 centimetres (10 in) long and often clinging to rocks. Porphyra is classified as red algae; it tends to be a brownish colour, but boils down to a dark green pulp when prepared. It is unusual amongst seaweeds because the fronds are only one cell thick.
It is commonly found around the west coast of Great Britain and east coast of Ireland along the Irish Sea, where it is also known as "sleabhac" or "slake". It is edible and used to make laverbread. In some parts of the United Kingdom it is classified as critically endangered following steep decline of its population in previously established habitats.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Porphyra umbilicalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
