Sea vegetables

Gaelic names for different types of sea vegetables number twenty-two! There are another nine in Orcadian English and probably five in modern English vernacular. (My authority on the subject is Julian Clokie, biologist and seaweed expert.) Though there is some evidence of the extent to which the Highlanders incorporated them into their diet, the fact that they had so many common names suggests that they were an everyday part of the diet, widely used in all communities on the coast. Some of the Gaelic names are given in parentheses in the list below.