microphyten.

1859 D. Page Handbk. Geol. Terms 252 Microphyta, Microphytes, literally ‘minute vegetables’; a term applied to those microscopic forms usually known as Diatomaceæ, and which at one time were confounded with the Infusoria.

1863 Intellectual Observer Dec. 379 In the fermentation of wheat flour he [sc. Lémaire] observed in the course of fifteen days, bacterium, vibrio, spirillum, amœba, monas, and paramecium, after which came what he calls microphytes.

1876 Proc. Royal Soc. 25 454 No Microphytes could be detected under the microscope.

1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 210 After the rise of modern bacteriology the first attempts made were to cultivate a specific microphyte from such tumours.

1909 E. Warming et al. Oecol. Plants xxxvii. 155 Here we are concerned only with phytoplankton, which always consists of minute plants (microphytes).

1952 Jrnl. Ecol. 40 6 A zone in which the rock..is blackened by microphytes.

1988 Times of India 25 Feb. ii. 3/1 The studies focus on various biological aspects of the river, inventory of microphytes, including medicinal plants as well as an inventory of micro organisms.

1995 S. D. Warren in D. Allsopp et al. Microbial Diversity & Ecosyst. Function 199 Among the microphytes contributing to soil crusts are algae, lichens, mosses, liverworts, and bacteria.