This common brown seaweed of the west coast of North America is normally found attached to rocks in moderately exposed intertidal and subtidal areas. The species was described as a member of another common intertidal seaweed, Fucus, a genus erected by Linnaeus that included many brown seaweeds later assigned to other taxa. According to an undated tag on the sheet (possibly in Thomas Meehan's hand [Moulton 1999]), the correct identification of Egregia menziesii was "determined at Cambridge." Collected prior to the species description, this material could have served as a type specimen, but as part of the Lewis and Clark material stored at the American Philosophical Society, it remained unknown to the scientific community until the late 19th century. Aside from mention in Reveal et al. (1999), Moulton (1999), and here, the material remains unstudied. This specimen was collected near the mouth of the Columbia River, in Pacific Co., Washington, 17 Nov 1805 (fide G. Moulton database). (The Lewis & Clark Herbarium Digital Imagery Study Set, ANSP, 2002) On deposit at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia Collected by:Meriwether Lewis & William Clark Collection date:11/17/1805