Egonori - Egonori seaweed

A seaweed of the Rhodophyta family, the Cercidiphyllum family. It is a yellow-red seaweed with numerous thin, bifurcated branches, and a creeper-like branching shape. The most apical branch is transformed into a hook shape, and it grows by wrapping itself around the body branches of Sargassum species. It is an annual seaweed that grows profusely from spring to summer. It is widely distributed along the coasts of Japan, but is particularly abundant along the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan and the west coast of Kyushu, where it is used as a secondary ingredient in the manufacture of agar. In Fukuoka City, there has long been a custom of eating okiuto (Oki Dokatsu), which is made only from Egonori, and a similar food is found on Sado Island. Karakusaigisu is a local name. Seaweeds that grow wrapped around Sargassum species include Amikusa, Kagiibara-nori, and Mozuku, but only two species, Egonori and Kagiibara-nori, have their most apical branches wrapped around them. The difference between the two species is that the cells that make up the body branches of Egonori are large and at first glance look like a string of beads, but Kagiibara Nori does not have this characteristic.Mozuku can be distinguished from Egonori by the fact that it is a brown algae plant with dark brown, mucilaginous body branches.

[Moriaki Shinzaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

紅藻植物、イギス科の海藻。黄赤色で、次々と二またに分かれる数多くの細糸状の分枝をもつ、つる草形分枝形の海藻。最頂端の分枝が鉤(かぎ)形に変形し、ホンダワラ類の体枝に絡みついて生育する。春から夏にかけて繁茂する一年生藻。日本沿岸に広く分布するが、とくに日本海沿岸や九州西岸などに多産し、寒天製造の副原料となる。古くから福岡市内では、エゴノリだけでつくったおきうと（沖独活）を食べる習慣があるが、類似の食品は佐渡島にもある。カラクサイギスは地方名。ホンダワラ類に絡まって生育する海藻には、アミクサ、カギイバラノリ、モズクなどがあるが、最頂端分枝が絡まるのはエゴノリとカギイバラノリの2種である。両種間の区別は、エゴノリは体枝を構成する細胞が大きく、一見数珠(じゅず)をつなげたようになるが、カギイバラノリではそういう特徴がない。なおモズクは、褐藻植物で暗褐色、粘滑質の体枝をもつ点で区別できる。

［新崎盛敏］

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