Glossary

I
J
Q
W
X
Y

 

A

 

Acellular : not divided into cells.

Acrid : a sharp, bitter odor.

Acute - ending in a sharp point.

Aerenchyma : spongy plant tissue that facilitates gas exchange.

Agar - a dry, amorphous, gelatin - like, non -nitrogenous phycocolloid obtained from red algae like Gracilaria.

Alga : a nonvascular plant in which all cells of the reproductive structures are fertile

Alginate : a salt of alginic acid ; a colloidal substance found in the walls of some brown algae.

Algology : the study of algae.

Alternate - the branches, leaves, etc. are placed singly at different heights on the axis, on opposite sides, or at definite angular distances from one another.

Amorphous - having no specific shape.

Anaerobic : occurring in the absence of oxygen.

Anastomosing : joined or united like the parts of a network.

Annulate - having ring-like bands.

Antheridium - the sex organ producing motile male gametes.

Apex : the uppermost point ; tip.

Articulated : having flexible joints between hard parts as in articulated coralline algae.

Assemblage : a collection of things ; group.

Attenuate - tapering gradually to a narrow extremity

Axil - the angle between the upper side of a branch and the supporting axis

Axis : a line with respect to which the thallus or branch is symmetrical.

 


B

Bacteria : a group of microscopic, generally nonphotosynthetic organisms with cell walls but lacking a membrane-bound nucleus.

Benthic : occurring on or related to the bottom of the ocean

Bifurcate - divided into two branches.

Blade : the more-or-less broad, flattened, foliose part of an erect
alga.

Blue-green algae : generally small algae that lack a membrane-bound nucleus and have characteristic pigments giving them a blue-green, black, or red color.

Brackish : somewhat salty but not as saline as open ocean water.

Branch : a subdivision of the main body of a plant arising from an axis.

Branchlet : a small branch; often the last branch in a branch system.

Bryozoans : a group of aquatic invertebrate animal that bud to form erect or mosslike colonies.

 

C


Calcareous : containing calcium carbonate (like limestone).

Capitate - having a globular head.

Carpospore : a spore produced in the cystocarp which arises after fertilization on the female gametophytes of red algae usually germinates to produce the diploid tetrasporophyte

Carposporophyte - a plant formed after sexual fusion of gametes in Florideophycidae.

Carrageenin - a gelatin - like phycocolloid resembling agar, but obtained from Eucheuma and other red algae of the family Solieriaceae.

Cervicorn - resembling a deer's horn.

Cespitose - matted together ; growing in dense tufts.

Chlorophyll : the green photosynthetic pigment found in plants.

Chloroplast : a membrane-bound structure containing the photosynthetic system.

Clavate - club shaped.

Compressed : somewhat flattened so that the cross section is elliptical.

Conceptacle : a cavity that opens to the thallus surface and contains
reproductive structures (as in fucus).

Corallines : the common name for a family of calcareous red algae.

Cortex - the outermost cell layer or tissue of an algal thallus.

Cortical cells : cells in the cortex.

Corticated : having a cortex.

Corymbose - having the form of a flat-topped convex cluster.

Cross wall : a transverse wall separating cells or parts of a thallus.

Cruciate - having the contents of the tetrasporangium divided in 2 or 3 planes at right angles to one another.

Crustose : in the form of a crust

Cryptostomates - minute cavities in the outer cortex of Fucales bearing tufts of hairs.

Cuneate - wedge-shaped; broad above, tapering by nearly straight lines to the base.

Cystocarp: the "fruit" that develops after fertilization in the red algae; occurs on the femal gametophyte and contains carpospores.


 

D


Decumbent : lying down but with the tip ascending.

Dentate - toothed with the teeth sharp and pointed outward.

Determinate - having limited growth.

Dichotominate : branching by forking in pairs.

Dichotomous - forked into two similar parts.

Diploid : having twice the basic (haploid) number of chromosomes; the chromosome number of most sporophytes.

Discoid - having the form of a disc.

Distal - remote from the place of attachment.

Distichous : arranged in two rows on opposite sides of an axis.

Divaricate - branching at wide angles.

Desiccation : the process of drying out.

Dorsal : related to or near the back.

Drift : plant material that has broken loose from the bottom and is moving eith the water or deposited on the shore.



E

Emarginate - notched at the apex.

Endophytic : living within a plant.

Entire - having the margin continuous and not broken by divisions, teeth or serrations.

Epiphyte - a plant that grows upon another plant but is not parasitic.

Epiphytic : living on the surface of plants.

Erect : standing up.fern : a nonflowering vascular plant.

Evesiculate - without a vesicle.

Elongate : stretched out, slender.

Endemic : restricted to a particular location.

 

 

F

Fasciculate - arranged in small bundles.

Filiform - thread- like.

Filamentous : having a single row of cells; generally hairlike.

Flabellate - fan- shaped ; broad and round at the top, narrowed below like a fan.

Flagellum : a microscopic, whiplike structure whose beating moves a cell

Foliose - leaf-like.

Frond : a single and usually leaflike part of a thallus; in macrocystis the stipe plus floats and blades.

Fucoid : related to or resembling rock weeds (like fucus).

Fungi : plantlike organisms that are unable to make their own food.


 

G

Gametangium - an organ or body producing the gametes.

Gametophyte : a plant that produces gametes (usually haploid)

Genicula - the uncalcified joints between segments in a coralline alga.

Geniculate : abruptly bent.

Geniculum : an uncalcified joint between the calcified segments of articulated corallines

Genus : a category of biological classification between family and species

Glabrous zone - smooth zone; the surface devoid of hair or pubescence.

Globose : globular, spherical.

 


H

Habit - the characteristic form of the thallus.

Habitat - place where the plant naturally lives or grows.

Halogenated : containing a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, etc.).

Haiophyte : a plant that grows in salty soil.

Haploid : having a single complete set of chromosomes; the chromosome number of most gametophytes.

Haptera : the rootlike basal outgrowths that form the holdfast in some brown algae

Haustoria : outgrowths of parasitic plants which enter the host and absorb nutrients.

Heteromorphic : having a life history in which the ohases differ in morphology.

Holdfast : the basal attachment organ of an alga.

Hydroids : colonial invertebrate animals forming generally white, turflike growths.

Hygroscopic : readily absorbing and retaining moisture.

Hyphae : the small, threadlike strures that make up the vegetative body of many fungi; elongate, colorless filaments in some algae.


 

I

 

Incised - deeply cut.

Indusium - a thin outer covering of a sorus.

Interence : the interaction of two light waves to produce fringes, colors, etc.

Intergeniculum : a calcified segment between the uncalcified joints of articulated corallines.

Internode : a segment of a jointed structure lying between areas where branches are produced.

Intertidal - portion of the shore which is alternately covered and exposed during tidal changes.

Invertebrate : lacking a spinal column.

Involucre : whorls of bracts situated below flowers or fruits. Isomorphic : having a life history in which the phases have the same morphology.

 

 

K

Kelp : large brown algae.

 

 

L

Lanceolate - three or more times as long as wide, widest below and tapers upward, shaped more or less like a lance.

Linear - narrow and several times longer than wide and of about the same width throughout, their margin nearly parallel.

Lichen : a group of plants formed from the association of an alga and a fungus.

Life history : the vegetative and reproductive phases through which an organism may pass during its life.

Limpet : a mollusk with an open low conical shell.

Liverwort : generally prostrate lower plants related to mosses

Longitudinal : running lengthwise.

Lower surface of Padina - associated with the convex surface of the inrolled margin.

 

 

M

Macro : large; visible without magnification.

Mammilate - having a nipple-like structure.

Medulla - the central tissue of an internally differentiated thallus.

Membranous : thin, pliable, and often somewhat transparent.

Micro : small; not visible without magnification.

Midrib : the thickened longitudinal axis of a thallus or blade

Morphology : the form and structure of an organism.

Moss : a lower plant forming turflike mats; lacking flowers but reproductively different from algae.

Mucronate - abruptly tipped by a small short point.

Multinucleate : each cell containing more than one nucleus.

Mycorrhiza : a symbiotic association of a fungus with the roots of a higher plant

 


N

 

Nemathecium : a wartlike elevation containing reproductive structures.

Nitrogen fixation : the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen gas into nitrogen-containing compounds.

Node - that part of a stem that normally bears one or more leaves or branches.


 

O

 

Oblanceolate - broadest above the middle and tapering downward.

Oblong - two or three times as long as broad and not conscpicuously narrowed, the sides nearly parallel.

Obligate : resticted to one particular mode of life.

Obovate - an inversely ovate body, with the broad end upward.

Obtuse - blunt or slightly rounded at the end.

Ovate - twice or less as long as broad, widest below the middle and more or less narrowed upward.

 


P

 

Palmate : resembling a hand with fingers spread.

Panicle - a loose and diversely branching cluster of flowers, receptacles, etc.

Paniculate - arranged in panicles.

Papilla : a short, nipplelike outgrowth

Papillate - having the form of a small nipple-like projection.

Parenchymatous : tissue composed of thin-walled cells produced from divisions in more than one plane.

Pectinate : with lateral branches arranged like the teeth of a comb.
.
Percurrent : extending through the entire length of a structure.

Pedunculate - provided with a stalk or peduncle.

Peltate : a circular blade with the stipe attached in the center of the lower surface

Percurrent - extending through the entire length.

Pericarp - a sterile envelope around a cystocarp (in Florideopycidae).

Pericentral cells : cells surrounding and derived from central axial cells.

Petal : one of the flower parts, usually conspicuously colored.

Phloem : the food-conducting tissue of vascular plants.

Photoperiod : the relative lengths of light and dark periods.

Phototropic : capable of directional orientation to light.

Phycobilins : reddish and bluish photosynthetic pigments.

Phycology : the study of algae.

Phylum : one of the primary taxonomic groups of organisms; between kingdom and class

Phytoplankton : floating plant life.

Pinnate - feather- like.

Pinnules - one of the pinnately disposed division of a pinnate branch.

Planktonic : free floating.

Polystichous - in many ranks.

Plastid : a membrance-bound intracellular structure containing pigments.

Polysiphonous : composed of lateral (pericentral) cells surrounding a central axis (siphon); as in polysiphonia.

Polysporangia : sporangia producing more than four spores.

Polystichous : arranged in many ranks.

Proliferation : a vegetative outgrowth from a normally terminal structure; usually smaller than the structure that produces it.

Prostrate : lying along the substratum.

 

 

R


.Racemose - the receptacles are borne on short stalks lying along a comon axis.

Radial - developing uniformly around a central axis.

Ramulus - a determinate branchlet.

Receptacle - the specialized fertile portion of the branches in Fucales containing the conceptacles.

Red tide : seawater discolored by the presence of large numbers of dinoflagellates (small, motile algae)

Reniform - kidney- shaped, broader than long, with a sinus at the base.

Reticulate - net-like.

Retuse - an obtuse apex which is somewhat indented.

Rhizoid - a unicecllular or multicellular filament functioning as an organ of attachment.

Rhizome : an underground stem; in the algae a prostrate, thickened axis.

 

 

S

 

Saccate : saclike.
Salinity : a measure of the amount of dissolved salts in seawater.

Secondary metabolites : compounds produced by organisms that are not of direct importance to their own metabolism (chemical processes ).

Secondary pit connection - cytoplasmic strand laterally connecting the cortical cells in some species of Laurencia.

Sessile : attached; not free to move.

Secund - arranged along one side of an axis.

Septate : provided with walls or partitions.

Septum : a wall or partition.

Serrat - having sharp small teeth that are projected forward.

Sinus - a small, rounded depression between two projecting lobes.

Siphonous : multinucleate and tubular.

Sorus - a group or cluster of reproductive organs.

Spadix : a kind of flower spike with a fleshy axis.

Spathe : a large bract enclosing a flower cluster

Spermatium : the nonmotile male gamete in the red algae

Sporangium : a structure in which spores are produced

Spore : a unicellular, asxual reproductive structure.

Sporophyll : a blade that produces spores.

Sporophyte : a plant that produces spores; generally the diploid generation in algal life histories.

Sp. : abbreviation for species (one).

Spp. : abbreviation for species (more than one).

Spring tides : tides with a greater than average range.

Ssp. : abbreviation for subspecies.

Stamen : flower structure composed of an anther (pollenbearing portion) and its supporting stalk.

Stichidium - an inflated, expanded or awollen specialized branch bearing the tetrasporangia

Stipe - the stem-like, usually basal part of a thallus.

Stolon - a slender branch or shoot growing out from the base of a parent plant and capable of producing another shoot.

Substratum - the base or material on which is always submerged even at the lowest tides.

Surge : the back-and-forth motion produced by waves.

Symbiotic :living together in close assocation.

 

T

Taper - to become gradually slender towards the apex.

Terete - cylindrical and slightly tapering.

Terminal : at the tip or apex.

Tetrahedral - having the contents of a tetrasporrangium triangularly divided so that only 3 of the tetraspores can be seen in one view.

Tetrasporangium : a sporangium in which four spores are formed in a definite manner.

Tetrasporophyte - the asexual, diploid thallus among the red algae wgich produces the tetrasporangia.

Thallus - a single vegetative plant body undifferentiated into true leaves, stem and root.

Truncate - square or broad at the end, as if cut off transversely.

Tunicates : a group of generally saclike or globular marine animals; sea squirts.

Turbinate - inversely conical, bell- shaped.

Turgid : swollen; distended.


 


U

Undulate - to have a wavy form or surface.

Upper surface of padina - associated with the concave surface of the inrolled margin.

Ultimate : final; the last in a series.

Upwelling : the process by which water rises from a lower to a higher depth.

Utricle : an inflated portion of a tubular thallus.

 

 

V

Vesicle : a small air bladder or float.

Ver. : abbreviation for variety.

Vegetative : not reproductive and not associated with reproductive cells.

Ventral : related to or near the front.

 

Z

Zoospore : a motile spore.