In Scotland and Norway, up until the mid-19th century, several seaweed species from Fucus and other genera were harvested, dried, burned to ash, and further processed to become "kelp", which was a type of soda ash that was less costly in Britain than the barilla imported from Spain. It has an alkali content of about 2.5%–5% that was mainly sodium carbonate (Na2CO3); alkali is essential to soapmaking, glassmaking, and other industries. The seaweed was also used as fertilizer for crop land in the same areas in which it was harvested.[8][Note 1] The purest barilla had a sodium carbonate concentration of about 30%.
In 2005, it was announced that bacteria grown on Fucus have the ability to attack and kill the MRSA superbacterium