Name: Pithophora
Family: Cladophoraceae
Collection Date: November 2nd, 2012
Location: Hiram College Botany Lab, Algae Tanks
Collector: Katie Rumora
Family: Cladophoraceae
Collection Date: November 2nd, 2012
Location: Hiram College Botany Lab, Algae Tanks
Collector: Katie Rumora
Key Used:
Prescott, G. W. (1970). How to Know the Freshwater Algae . Boston : WCB McGraw Hill .
1b. Plants microscopic, or if macroscopic with cellular structures and branches not clearly visible to the unaided eye; without whorls of branches clearly visible … 4
4a. (1) Cells containing chloroplasts with green predominating; or with other pigments predominating: yellow-green , golden yellow, brownish, reddish or bluish-green … 5
5a. Plants grass or leaf-green or gray- to violet-green, or tawny-green … 25
25b. Organisms non-motile in the vegetative condition. Cells solitary or colonial, or filamentous forms … 81
81a. Plant a filament or a branched, tubular, threadlike thallus without cross walls … 291
291b. Plant a branched filament; either a cpenocytic tube without cross walls, microscopic with cells in 1 series, sometimes in a wide gelatinous sheath; or an attached prostate filament or cushion; or a disclike thallus in which the branching habit is obscure because of closely appressed branches … 359
359a. Plants composed of cellular units; cross walls present … 360
360b. Plants otherwise … 361
361b. Plants aquatic, or epiphytic or parasitic on higher plants, or if terrestrial without rhizoidal branches … 363
363b. Plants mainly erect, or free, not growing horizontally on a substrate, but sometimes a thallus with some horizontal growth at the base of the erect portions; free-floating or attached; or epiphytic or parasitic on higher plants; in some forms perforating wood or shells … 379
379b. Plants not as above … 380
380b. Plants not as above … 381
381b. Plants not parasitizing leaves although some may be surface growing and epiphytic … 383
383a. Cells without setae, filaments not tapering to hairlike tips … 384
384b. Branches longer, multicellular, usually forming a definite pattern of growth, opposite or alternate on the main axis, or branches both long and short on the same filament … 389
389b. Not growing in wood nor in shells, but may occur on wood and old shells; sometimes on tree trunks … 390
390. Plants without carotenoids … 392
392b. Thallus not encrusted with lime … 394
394b. Thallus not a dense tuft of yellow-green filaments … 395
395b. Without akinetes, or if rarely present, scattered, not arranged as above … 397
397b. Thallus formed differently … 398
398b. Plant not growing on turtles, or with other types of branching … 399
399b. Plants not forming bushy tufts … 407
407a. Vegetative cells very long and cylindrical, somewhat regularly interrupted by swollen, thick-walled spores ... Pithophora
Figure 1: Pithophora
Figure 2: Preserved Specimen of Pithophora
Description:
“Pithophora belongs to the family of filamentous green algae. It may be found growing on the bottom or in dense mats on the surface. This algae is often described as resembling a tangled mass of cotton or wool-like growth which is very course to the touch. Under magnification Pithophora is composed of irregularly branched filaments usually with numerous swollen spore-like reproductive cells known a akinetes. It may range in color from lime green to a dark greenish brown. The surface mats generally form in warmer weather when gas bubbles, produced by the plant, are trapped within the dense algal growth, causing them to become buoyant. Disturbance of these mats by high wind or heavy rain events may cause them to temporarily sink to the bottom. This often gives a false impression that the growth has "disappeared", only to have it return to the surface within several days” (Pithophora Algae ).
Links:
References:
Pithophora Algae . (n.d.). Retrieved November 10 , 2011, from South Carolina Department of Natural Resources : www.dnr.sc.gov/water/aquaff/pithalgae.html
Prescott, G. W. (1970). How to Know the Freshwater Algae . Boston : WCB McGraw Hill .
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