Alan Davidson

Carrageen Moss, Irish Moss

Chondrus crispus Stackhouse

Appears in
top 1000North Atlantic Seafood
North Atlantic Seafood

By Alan Davidson

Published 1980

  • About

Family Gigartinaceae

  • Portuguese: Carragenina
  • Spanish: Carragahen
  • French: Carragheen
  • Dutch: Iers mos
  • German: Irisches Moos
  • Swedish: Karragentång
  • Danish: Carrageentang
  • Icelandic: Fjörugrös

REMARKS This is a small and lovely marine plant. The fronds have a flattened stem, which divides and sub-divides in a fan-like manner. In good conditions it grows in dense masses, of a purplish-red or reddish-green colour.

It occurs on the American coast from New York northwards and has been harvested commercially in Massachusetts. But its real home is Ireland, where the village of Carragheen has provided the most common of the names used for it (but often spelled without an ‘h’). It is also common on the western coasts of Scotland and its range extends northwards to Scandinavia.