Fucus laxus R. Brown ex Turner, 1811–1819: 14–15, pl. 203 (type locality: Cape of Good Hope, South Africa).
Chondria laxa (R. Brown ex Turner) C. Agardh, 1817: XVIII.—Krauss, 1846: 211.
Laurencia laxa (R. Brown ex Turner) Gaillon, 1828: 363.—Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1834: 164.— G. Martens, 1868: 32, 98–99.— Barton, 1893: 174.— De Wildeman, 1897a: 174.
INDIAN OCEAN DISTRIBUTION: India, Indonesia (Sumatra), South Africa.
Note: Papenfuss (1952: 183), after examining the type of Fucus laxus (in BM), was convinced that it is not representative of any South African species of Laurencia. He thought that the source probably was Australia, but this species was not mentioned in the account of southern Australian Laurencia published by Saito & Womersley (1974). Papenfuss indicated in his notes that he had not seen the material upon which the Krauss record (repeated by Barton) was based.