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Harvey, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Harvey, William Henry, 1811–66, Irish botanist. An authority on algae, he wrote A Manual of the British Algae (1841), Phycologia Britannica (4 vol., 1846–51), and Phycologia Australica (5 vol., 18...

Chlorophyta

(Encyclopedia)Chlorophyta klōrŏfˈətə [key], phylum (division) of the kingdom Protista consisting of the photosynthetic organisms commonly known as green algae. The organisms are largely aquatic or marine. The ...

cyanobacteria

(Encyclopedia)cyanobacteria sīˌənōbăktĭrˈēə, sī-ănˌō– [key] or blue-green algae, photosynthetic bacteria that contain chlorophyll. For many years they were classified in the plant kingdom along with ...

isogamy

(Encyclopedia)isogamy īsŏgˈəmē [key], in biology, a condition in which the sexual cells, or gametes, are of the same form and size and are usually indistinguishable from each other. Many algae and some fungi h...

seaweed

(Encyclopedia)seaweed, name commonly used for the multicellular marine algae. Simpler forms, consisting of one cell (e.g., the diatom) or of a few cells, are not generally called seaweeds; these tiny plants help to...

thallophyte

(Encyclopedia)thallophyte, common name for members of the Thallophyta (or Thallobionta), a taxonomic group in some archaic classification systems that comprised algae, fungi, and lichens. The thallophytes were cons...

giant clam

(Encyclopedia)giant clam, common name for the largest bivalve mollusk in the world, Tridacna gigas, also known as the bear's paw clam. The giant clam may weigh over 500 lb (225 kg) and attain a length of over 4 ft ...

sloth

(Encyclopedia)sloth slōth, slôth [key], arboreal mammal found in Central and South America distantly related to armadillos and anteaters. Sloths live in tropical forests, where they sleep, eat, and travel through...

cryptogam

(Encyclopedia)cryptogam, in botany, term used to denote a plant that produces spores, as in algae, fungi, mosses, and ferns, but not seeds. The term cryptogam, from the Greek kryptos, meaning “hidden,” and gamo...

agar, substance obtained from seaweed

(Encyclopedia)agar äˈgär, āˈ–, ăgˈär [key], product obtained from several species of red algae, or seaweed, chiefly from the Ceylon, or Jaffna, moss (Gracilaria lichenoides) and species of Gelidium, harve...

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