On September 21, 2026, the French postal service, La Poste, will issue a stamp in its nature series featuring underwater flora.
Underwater flora is revealed at low tide or while diving: marine plants and especially green, red, or brown algae, sometimes tiny and delicate, sometimes majestic. They then rise up like underwater trees. A careful look, a touch, is all it takes to marvel at their diversity, their colors, their beauty. Each one is a veritable oxygen factory: together, they capture solar energy to nourish the food chain.
On the tidal coast, species surprisingly tolerant of daily exposure cycles, such as wrack (Fucus), provide refuge for an entire animal community while awaiting the incoming tide. In the depths, kelp forests form veritable forests, offering shelter and sustenance to numerous species of fish, crabs, starfish, anemones, and other animals. Their smooth, undulating fronds form a canopy that filters dim light, ideal for the growth of other algae adapted to this "undergrowth." In other habitats, marine plants form large, equally productive seagrass meadows that serve as nurseries for numerous fish and shelter seahorses.
This elegant, powerful, and fragile flora remains a world to be explored, opening up many possibilities. Will we know how to care for it? The delicate balance of life on our planet depends on it.
