noun
definition
Any of a group of freshwater, filamentous green algae, of the genus Spirogyra, having chloroplasts arranged in spirals.
Examples of spirogyra in a Sentence
In the formation of sporangia two cells fuse together by means of outgrowths, in a manner very similar to that of Spirogyra; sometimes, however, the wall between two cells merely breaks down.
Thus Spirogyra filaments, which have been denuded of starch by being placed in the dark, form starch in one day if they are placed in a io to 20% solution of dextrose.
The whip-forms are represented by Spirogyra, Chaetomorpha, Scytosiphon, Nemalion, Himanthalia and Chorda.
In Spirogyra the pyrenoids are distinctly connected by cytoplasmic strands to the central mass of cytoplasm, which surrounds the nucleus, and according to some observers, they increase exclusively by division, followed by a splitting of the cytoplasmic strands.
There is, however, considerable variation in the nature of the membrane in different species; thus the cell-wall of Oedogonium, treated with sulphuric acid and iodine, turns a bright blue, while the colour is very faint in the case of Spirogyra, the wall of which is said to consist for the most part of pectose.
Spirogyra and related algae like the Desmids are conjugating green algae.
In Spirogyra and allied forms the chloroplast grows as the cell grows, and only divides when this divides.
Sometimes several pyrenoids occur in each chloroplast, as in Mesocarpus and Spirogyra; sometimes only an occasional chloroplast contains pyrenoid at all, as in Cladophora.
In the Thallophytes the cytoplasm may be segmented by constriction, due to the in-growth of a new cell wall from the old one, as in Spirogyra and Cladophora, or by the formation of cleavage furrows in which the new cell-wall is secreted, as occurs in the formation of the spores in many Algae and Fungi.
In Ulva and Mesocarpus the chromatophore is a single plate, which in the latter genus places its edge towards the incident light; in Spirogyra they are spiral bands embedded in the primordial utricle; in Zygnema they are a pair of stellate masses, the rays of which branch peripherally; in Oedogonium they are longitudinally-disposed anastomosing bands; in Desmids plates with irregular margins; in Cladophora polyhedral plates; in Vaucheria minute elliptical bodies occurring in immense numbers.