Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh
Sargassum polycystum is a species of marine Phaeophyta (brown algae), with a body differentiated into organs like axis, twig, leaf, pneumatocyst, receptacle, etc. The branch surface is full of y-shaped or stick-shaped tubercles. The leaf is small in the shape of long egg or oval with many tiny saws on the edge. The pneumatocyst is ball-shaped with a diameter of around 0.1-0.2 cm. The receptacle is columnar or flat with tubercles on the surface. The body can be as tall as 90 cm.
Sargassum polycystum is mostly distributed in the Indian Ocean, tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean, Ryuku Islands, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, etc. In Taiwan, it is native to the south of Hengchun Peninsula, usually in the sandy reef under small waves of the mid-and-lower intertidal zone. It is the most abundant between March and June, serving as food, fertilizer, forage, modulator for heavy metal contaminants like chromium and lead, resistant against insects and bacteria, fever reliever, cholesterol neutralizer, etc.