Oarweed

Oarweed is a large brown alga found in the sublittoral zone of the northern Atlantic Ocean, ranging from Greenland to Cape Cod in the northwest and from Russia to France in the northeast, where it forms extensive meadows on exposed rocky shores. It grows a leathery blade shaped like the palm of a hand with finger-like segments on a flexible stalk up to 1.5 meters long anchored by a root-like holdfast, and it is harvested today for alginic acid and cosmetics after a history of being burned for potash and used medicinally.