STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT. 



The Charophyta are small to medium-sized plants, 

 normal individuals ranging from about 10 to 60 cm. 

 in height. When not incrusted, they are green in 

 colour and usually flexible. The stems are slender and 

 somewhat branched. The most prominent character- 

 istic of the group is the whorled growth of the lateral 

 members, styled branchlets, which with few exceptions 

 are uniform in size and character, and upon which the 

 organs of reproduction are borne. The male and 

 female organs, styled respectively antheridia and 

 oogonia, are, as already stated, unlike those of any 

 other plants. The distinctive characteristics can be 

 readily seen with the naked eye, or by the aid of 

 a pocket lens, so that there need never be the slightest 

 doubt, when even the smallest scrap of one of these 

 plants is found, as to its belonging to the group, the- 

 variation in form being between comparatively narrow 



limits. 



In describing the structure and de- 

 velopment of a Charophyte, it is con- 

 venient to start with the ripe oospore 

 which has become detached from the plant and has 

 buried itself in the mud preparatory to germination. 

 The process of germination has been well described 

 by de Bary, from whose work* the following par- 

 ticulars are mainly drawn, as well as the figures on 



* "Zur Keinmngsgeschichte der Charen," in 'Bot. Zeitung,' pp. 2-26,, 

 tt. 5, 6 (1875). Translated by Hemsley in ' Journ. Bot.' xiii, pp. 298-313, 

 tt. 167, 168 (1875). 



