Botrydium

Botrydium

 

a genus of yellow-green algae. In the USSR there are eight species living in moist soil and along the boundaries of still bodies of water. The pear-shaped thallus, up to 3 mm across, is noncellular, polynuclear, and has colorless rhizoids. In the water Botrydium reproduces by means of zoospores; in soil, by means of aplanospores. When it withers, Botrydium forms polynuclear cysts, which, under favorable conditions, yield new plants or zoospores. Sexual reproduction is unknown.