Gilbertsmithia
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Gilbertsmithia is a genus of green algae in the family Scenedesmaceae, containing the single species Gilbertsmithia grandis.[1] It was named after the American botanist Gilbert Morgan Smith.[2] This remarkable alga has only been recorded once from a muddy rainwater pool in Madras (now Chennai), India.[1]
Gilbertsmithia grandis consists of flattened colonies of cells, termed coenobia. Colonies contain rings of four or eight cells in a ring, akin to beads on a rosary. Cells are uninucleate (with one nucleus) and contain one cup-shaped chloroplast, each with a single pyrenoid in the thicker part of the chloroplast. Colonies are surrounded by a thin layer of mucilage.[2]
Gilbertsmithia grandis reproduces asexually by the formation of autospores. Each cell divides into four or eight protoplasts, and a released via a slit in the mother cell wall. The mother cell wall is retained and becomes angular, and remain attached to each other; therefore, multiple rings may be present on a single colony.[2] Sexual reproduction is not known to occur in this genus.[1]
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