/kənˈfɜːviː/.confervan.
/kənˈfəːvə//kənˈfɜːviː/. Botany.
A genus of plants originally constituted by Dillenius, and then made to contain many heterogeneous species of filamentous cryptogams; now restricted to certain freshwater Green Algæ (Chlorophyllæ), composed of simple (i.e. unbranched) many-celled filaments, and reproduced by zoospores. One of the most familiar species is popularly known as Crow-silk.
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the world > plants > particular plants > algae > [noun] > silkweeds
crow-silk1721
conferva1758
moor-ball1777
Oscillatoria1828
water flannel1843
conferval1850
confervoid1855
silkweed1857
duck-mud1884
1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 1261 Pliny hath recorded that he knew of one cured incredible quickly, with his Conferva.]
1758 J. Ellis in Philos. Trans. 1757 (Royal Soc.) 50 285 It appears to be a geniculated red conferva.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 207 The banks..are every where covered with reeds, lichen, confervæ, and various kinds of aquatic vegetables.
1854 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. I. xvi. 371 The rocks..were covered with a red conferva.
1882 S. H. Vines tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. (ed. 2) 355 Air-cavities, from the bottom of which the cells containing chlorophyll spring in a conferva-like manner.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online September 2020).
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n.1758