Coleochaetales

Classification: Eukarya, Charophyta, Charophyceae

Genera: Coleochaete, Chaetosphaeridium, Awadhiella

Synonomy:

Description: Microscopic algae found living on solid surfaces in still or slow moving fresh waters. All have a characteristic sheathed hair on at least some cells. Composed of branched filaments, the thalli may be discoid and composed of tightly apressed filaments, obviously filamentous and flat or cushion-shaped, or (in Chaetosphaeridium) resembling colonies of unicells because of the thin, clear walls connecting the filament.

Key Literature:

Plate from Brebisson 1844, kindly provided by Mike Wynne.