Erythrophyllum delesserioides

Red Sea Leaf

17 May 2022

Botany Bay, Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C., Canada.

Tide: 0.3 feet at 08:48 PDT (measured at Port Renfrew Tidal Station)

Conditions: Mix of sun and cloud, wind variable 5 to 10 km/hour, sea rippled, moderate westerly swell, humidity 70%, 9˚C.

Moon: Waning Gibbous (96.1%, 17 days); Previous Phase, Full Moon, 15 May 2022 at 9:14pm PDT: Next Phase, Third Quarter, 22 May 2022 at 11:43am PDT.

Figure 1: Some ‘new season’ Erytrhophyllum delesserioides leaves are seen hanging into the surge channel and buffered somewhat by the Strap Kelp growing nearby. Botany Bay, Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C., Canada. May 17, 2022. Photo ID: 27228 ©Seaweedwhisperings.com

Person 1:

Disheveled – doesn’t know how to take care of itself.

Needs the protection and shelter of others to thrive.

Could be beautiful, but doesn’t make any effort to manifest that.

Midrib looks like it starts off with intent to be strong, but loses its focus and starts to ‘unravel.’ Madman, mad scientist?

When the light is not shining (physically and metaphorically) on it, seems to have a very dark, deeply hidden aspect to it.

Deceptive?

Underworld figure?

Highly manipulative and controlling, but not in the forefront. Needs to be shielded and protected.

Cowardly?

Could be perceived as cowardly because they’re not exposing/revealing themselves in what they’re doing.

If unsure that they’ll be successful or correct, they will keep those efforts hidden but forge ahead nonetheless.

Have the courage to attempt/or do it, but do not have the courage to risk being proven wrong.

Like someone in a position of power or considerable authority, especially who must remain in that position (like a family head CEO or a monarch), they can only maintain that position with a number of helpers/aids/associates. Their ‘leadership’ is not yet strong enough to truly hold this kind of position independently. The protection and support of those around them is essential.

Figure 2: Red Sea Leaf seen ‘exposed’ on a very low tide spring day. It is far more common to only glimpse this seaweed thrashing about underwater in the surf. Sea cabbage, a large brown alga, is growing above and alongside. Botany Bay, Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C., Canada. May 29, 2021. Photo ID: 27229 ©Seaweedwhisperings.com

Person 2:

Red Sea Leaf – you have a ‘special’ kind of red, a deep, rich red.

In some lights the red seems to glow, in other lights the vein is prominent and lighter (almost orange red) and the remainder of the ‘leaf’ is deep, fathomless, burgundy red.

The blade has the shape of a leaf, yes for sure, but it also reminds me of a feather – elongated and pointed gracefully at the tip, with a central vein and some ‘cuts’/lacerations/tears in the blade that run deeply to the vein itself.

That graceful point of the blade, at times such as at this very low tide when you only are splashed by the ocean swell and not immersed in it, that tip of the blade is almost always holding a drop of water. The drop of seawater held there often appears to be red in color. It is as if Erythropyllum delesserioides is weeping…, weeping a single bloody tear.

Your whole blade has a smooth matte deep red finish that somehow transforms to a whole other quality when wet. It feels like you, Red Sea Leaf, are at your best when wet, when freshly sprayed with the surf or when immersed under the tide.

Being wet is being fully engaged.

Drying out is death. Not good.

Drops of blood – possibly indicates injury but only the living can still bleed.

You sustain many injuries, Erythrophyllum delesserioides, that much is clear!

You grow sub tidally or in surge channels that are only exposed at very low tides. Where I’ve found you is growing just under the lip of a rock ledge, so you are just tucked under the most exposed surface of the rock and you are also protected and shaded from the sunlight above. This location is almost like a small cavern, and you like it; it suits you very well. Also, above you grows Sea Cabbage and in front of you grows Strap Kelp – they buffer you – it seems.

Exposed? Yes, you are but not at the point of fullest physical exposure.

Dark, but not totally dark.

Low light is good for you, or reflected light, but NOT direct light. No, that is not for you.

Being in ‘the spotlight’ is actually tempting to you, but it can only be for very short intervals and with just the right conditions all in place.

So these surge channels suit you for hydration and quality of light, but the action of the surf seems to shred your ‘leaves’, Red Sea Leaf. Even as young and new as I find you at this current spring visit many of your tips are broken and there are deep tears along the blade at the sides. This actually reinforces the feather ‘look’, although in reality it would be a very poorly groomed feather!

The tatters, the lack of grooming, is it that there is no care for repairs and maintenance? No, I think that there is no time, and it is that pressure you feel to be prepared, to be ready for the next blow that most certainly is coming your way. Yes, that feels like how it is for Red Sea Leaf when low tide exposes it to the harshness of the intertidal surges.

But Erythrophyllum delesserioides rarely receives a ‘fatal blow’ – the base of the blades and the strong vein (mid-rib) endure. Sometimes, though, Red Sea Leaf is trimmed back very harshly, indeed.

I spent quite some time trying to photograph this seaweed in situ. I have found you in only one location during the past two years of intertidal zone exploration. You persist here, but you certainly are NOT common. There seem to be very few places that suit your needs adequately.

While doing my photography and observations I was seated under the rock overhang where you are growing, Red Sea Leaf. It felt like being in a cave, and then while observing the deep red, the wetness, the drops as if of blood at the tips of your blades, all of this combined to make me think of the womb.

Yes, the womb is dark, it is wet with blood, and if it is dry, that is death to any unborn offspring/fetus.

This connection/concept was a strong one, as later in the day I noticed a small but distinct blood tainted vaginal discharge that marked my undergarments (I have long ago passed through menopause).

I used the word “tainted” there.

I examined why that word and determined that, yes, that’s the correct word to express the feeling I perceived; tainted – something gone wrong, polluted, contaminated or somehow spoiled and not fit for birth.

Womb.

Something gone wrong in the womb.

Menses, when conception was hoped for, or miscarriage, when conception had already occurred.

Either way, tears from the heart drip down your countenance when the womb bleeds.

Figure 3 (left) and Figure 4 (right): The edge of the surge channel is seen (left) with the various macro algae that make their homes here; Erythrophyllum delesserioides is among them. The closer view shows some of the Red Sea Leaf that is freshly growing here this spring. Botany Bay, Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C., Canada. May 17, 2022. Photo ID’s: 27230 & 27231 ©Seaweedwhisperings.com

Person 3:

My interaction with Erythrophyllum delesseriodies was a strange mixture of emotions and physical sensations. At first a questioning as to why what to me is a rather lovely seaweed should choose to be so secretive in what it displays and gives to the world?

What is that about and why the hesitation?

I could get no clarity on what this was really about – fear of being wrong, perhaps a sense that they will be found out?

And yet, there is an energy that they don’t really care if they have got it wrong, they still have and feel their beauty in their tattered state.

Do they want people to look harder to acknowledge that they are special? Do they want others to help them in some way?

Later I, too, (long past menopause) had a small amount of vaginal bleeding which left me with the long forgotten feeling of something that I no longer needed being physically discharged from my being.

Figure 5: A young, mainly whole and intact grouping of Red Sea Leaf alga are pictured here; age and exposure have not yet begun the ‘wear and tear’ that is characteristic to this seaweed. Nearby and even more directly exposed to the incoming surf than Erythrophyllum delesseriodes is, are the tough and perennial stipes of Lessoniopsis littoralis, Strap Kelp. Both of these macro algae thrive in surge channels and areas of very high surf action. Botany Bay, Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C., Canada. May 17, 2022. Photo ID: 27232 ©Seaweedwhisperings.com

Discussion:

Person 2 and Person 3 identified first with the concept of a ‘weeping womb’ – a female who miscarried or couldn’t conceive or where there was some significant problem blocking access, for the Erythrophyllum delesserioides type of energy, with the miracle of childbirth. A bit later we explored more and saw that there are other situations that have these same Erythrophyllum traits.

The obvious one is the bleeding warrior.

The feather, bloodied and red, reminded us of the practice in some Native American tribes that warriors were awarded a feather when they won a battle or were particularly brave in acts of war.

The Aztec deity of war is Huitzilopochtli, who was represented in their art as the hummingbird (and sometimes the eagle). The hummingbird, although small in size, is a dazzlingly feathered creature, and one with a true warrior personality – they will fight to their own death to protect their territory. Huitzilopochtli is also the deity of human sacrifice.

In the Aztec mythology there were two ways to be guaranteed passage from this life to higher realms of the next life. One was death of warriors in battle and the second was death in the act of childbirth. If a woman died in childbirth it was believed that she became a ‘companion of the Sun’ and would rise to one of the highest heavens. Such women carried the Sun down from its noon high point to set at the end of the day on the horizon. As such, in Aztec society one found great honor by death in battle or during childbirth.

There is a theme here of seeking honor by undertaking dangerous endeavors.

It requires courage as one could pay ‘the ultimate price’ and lose their life.
It’s a rather double-edged honor that can only be ‘claimed’ posthumously or in the next realm, and it seems that in this realm Erythrophyllum can be pulled, innately driven and highly motivated towards that goal.

Could they possibly be striving for a ‘wrong goal’ or possibly they didn’t actually pick the goal themselves but they forge ahead nonetheless as an expression of their culture/societal expectations?

Willingness to face danger – and it is willingness with awareness of the risk. Yes, it seems they are not deluded with feelings of invincibility, they are consciously choosing that they will engage in certain types of high risk ‘battles’.

‘Special’ red feather – there is a pride in wearing it. It is a status symbol. It marks something. Not simply accomplishment, it is conquest! It is the warrior who did not yet go to join the Sun in the afterlife, but who killed an opponent.

It is the mother who gave birth to a living infant but who lost her own life in the process.

Someone dies. Death is involved.

Honor is won or lost.

Vanquish, kill, annihilate, sometimes birth – and it’s bloody and it’s final.

The concept of ‘entertainment of the masses’ comes up. In some kind of sporting event, it is not only that you won (the trophy) it was that you decimated your opponents.

Is this the energy of the vanquished or of those who potentially may be vanquished if not successful?

Is this the bloody tear?

The weeping wounded?

Tears because they did not reach their highest honor?

So, they will stand again, even tattered and wounded, they will carry forward in their ambition, battle again on another day, conceive another fetus on a new cycle, or, as is the case of Erythrophyllum delesserioides, face the power and potential destruction of another crashing wave.

There is a supreme and lofty goal here, and it seems that life as a warrior who is too wounded to fight or as a potential mother who cannot successfully gestate and deliver a healthy new life, for these individuals what pride and honor is there?

In the vast expression of life is there not room for some other meaningful/important ambitions?

It feels that for the energy of Erythrophyllum delesserioides this kind of second best place, this inability to reach their ultimate goal in life, is what they always face, until the moment they die the honorable death they seek.

In discussion there were two main aspects that came up; the aspect of birth and the aspect of hanging onto a belief even if it may no longer serve. Something can be amiss in the energy dynamic here. The Erythrophyllum delesseriodies individual feels as if it is pulling energy towards a goal that may be correct for itself but not necessarily correct for those it seems to be wanting to interact with. To illustrate this concept there was the reminder of the need to follow the wisdom of a woman’s body as she labors in childbirth. This is not about helping the midwife or obstetrician feel they are doing a good job, this is about helping the mother take an active role in the miracle of the birth of her child. The experience of many mothers is far from active participation in a miracle and yet many seem, if not satisfied with the experience, at least willing to go along with it as it is what they have been told is best for them and their child.

Likewise there is a sense that this seaweed needs to be right and it may well push through obstacles to prove that ‘rightness’ even when it may result in death at some level. Death may even be OK if they believe they have hung onto their beliefs and fulfilled their mission in life with honor.

Figure 6: A few blades of Red Sea Leaf in hand helps to show the tears and lacerations that penetrate them, imparting a ‘feathered’ look. This tearing and tattering intensifies as the season progresses through summer and fall. If only there were low enough daytime tides in winter, one would be able to return here to find the annual maturation of this annual alga – a ‘skeleton’ consisting of mid-ribs and a bit of blade heavily studded with reproductive cells. Botany Bay, Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C., Canada. May 17, 2022. Photo ID: 27233 ©Seaweedwhisperings.com

Biology & Natural History Information:

Description:

This annual red alga consists of one or several vivid red blades that are connected to the substrate by a discoid holdfast. The blade has a prominent midrib and in mature thalli there are numerous lateral branches also with the distinct midrib/veins. The elongated blades average about 20cm in length but can reach a length of 50cm or more and at close examination look rather delicate. Late winter and early spring is the time of new growth for this seaweed and at that season the blades are more or less intact. By mid-summer the blades become deeply lacerated and the branch veins continue their growth and develop secondary branches. Later in the season still the reproductive cells (wart-like protuberances) begin to develop and during the winter the blades erode leaving hardly more than a ‘skeleton’ of midrib and branch veins left bearing small remnants of the leafy blades and these are profusely studded with warts. In addition to sexual reproduction new blades may also grow from the remnant midrib the following spring.

Habitat:

This species is found on rock in subtidal regions and ranging up to the lower intertidal areas also but only in relatively wave exposed situations; it also makes its home on the walls of surge channels.

North Pacific Distribution:

Eastern Gulf of Alaska to central California.

Remarks:

Erythorophyllum delesserioides is the type species (hologype) of the genus Erythrophyllum. The type locality is Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Classification:

Phylum: Rhodophyta

Class: Florideophyceae

Order: Gigartinales

Family: Kallymeniaceae

Genus: Erythrophyllum

Species: Erythrophyllum delesserioides J.Agardh 1872