Laurencia majuscula
Rhodophyta, Rhodomelaceae
Authority: (Harvey) Lucas
Hawaiian name: limu mane‘one‘o
Characteristic feature: Dark reddish rose color, with alternate branches bearing tufts of (knobby) branchlets.
Description: Plants 5-7-(18) cm tall, usually dark rose red but often red and light green in different parts of plant; several main axes arising from spreading, common holdfast, axes branching irregularly alternately, sometimes spiraling, the final orders of branching dense, appearing in fluffy clusters when living and characteristically standing above or beyond associated algae. Outermost cortical cells subquadrate, outer tangential wall projecting; without lenticular thickenings. Tetrasporangia of parallel type.
Habitat: Mostly intertidal to shallow subtidal.
Hawaiian distribution: All main Hawaiian Islands, including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Other: Probably the most conspicuous and common of the Hawaiian Laurencia species. Indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands.
Used as a condiment by Hawaiians because of its peppery taste. It should only be eaten fresh.