Sea willow (Virgularia gustaviana)

Japanese: ウミヤナギ(海柳) - ウミヤナギ（英語表記）Virgularia gustaviana

A coelenterate (cnidaria) of the family Oligocallidae in the class Anthozoa. Also known as the willow sea coral. It is found south of Sagami Bay, standing upright on its vermilion stalk in the sand and mud of the seabed at depths of 10m or more. The upper half of the coral is lined with purple triangular thallus members, which are arranged around a 30-70cm long bony axis, and their development decreases toward the bottom. The bony axis is well developed and has a square cross section. More than 200 large polyps are lined up on the upper edge of the thallus. The polyp sheath is smooth and without projections. The closely related species, Scytalium sprendens , is commonly collected from sandy and muddy bottoms at depths of 20-30m along the Japanese coast, and has about 40 polyps lined up in a row on the outer edge of the thallus.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

花虫綱ウミヤナギ科の腔腸動物(刺胞動物)。別名ヤナギウミエラ。相模湾以南に分布し，10m以深の海底の砂泥中に朱色の柄部で直立している。長さ30～70cmの骨軸を中心にして上半部には紫色の三角状の葉状体が並び，下方にいくにつれて発育が悪くなる。骨軸はよく発達していて，断面は四角形。葉状体の上縁には200個以上の大きなポリプが並んでいる。ポリプ鞘（しよう）は滑らかで突起はない。近縁種のホソウミエラScytalium sprendensは日本沿岸各地の水深20～30mの砂泥底よりふつうに採集され，葉状体の外縁には40個ほどのポリプが1列に並んでいる。

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