Saccharina japonica

Saccharina japonica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Chromalveolata
Phylum: Heterokontophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminariaceae
Genus: Saccharina
Species: S. japonica
Binomial name
Saccharina japonica
(J.E. Areschoug) C.E. Lane, C. Mayes, Druehl & G.W. Saunders
Synonyms

Laminaria japonica J.E. Areschoug
Laminaria ochotensis Miyabe

Saccharina japonica (Dashi kombu) is a marine species of Phaeophyceae (brown algae), a type of kelp or seaweed, that is extensively cultivated in China, Japan and Korea.

A commercially important species, Saccharina japonica is known as kombu (in China haidai, in Korea dasima), an important food from Japan. Large harvests are produced by rope cultivation, a simple method of growing seaweeds by attaching them to floating ropes in the ocean.[1][2]

The species is native to Japan, but has been cultivated in China, Japan, Russia, France, and Korea.[3] It is one of the two most consumed species of kelp in China and Japan.[1] The harvest is also used for the production of alginates, with China producing up to ten thousand tonnes of the product each year.[4]

It is used under the natural Brown Seaweed Extract form (Laminaria Japonica) to regulate thyroid metabolism and the support the GI tract.


The species was transferred to Saccharina in 2006.[5] Three synonyms for this species name are Laminaria japonica J.E. Areschoug 1851, its variety Laminaria japonica var. ochotensis (Miyabe) Okamura 1936, and Laminaria ochotensis Miyabe 1902.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 M. D. Guiry. "Kelps: Laminaria and Saccharina". www.seaweed.ie.
  2. Laminaria seafarming in China FAO
  3. 3.0 3.1 Guiry, M.D.; Guiry, G.M. (2008). "'Saccharina japonica'". AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway.
  4. M. D. Guiry. "Alginates". www.seaweed.ie.
  5. Lane, C.E., Mayes, C., Druehl, L.D. & Saunders, G.W. (2006). A multi-gene molecular investigation of the kelp (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) supports substantial taxonomic re-organization. Journal of Phycology 42: 493-512.