BATRACHOSPERMUM

genus of freshwater red algae ranging in colour from violet to blue-green. The alga's long, branched, threadlike filaments bear dense whorls of branchlets, the whorls themselves resembling beads on a string. Spores are formed in clusters around the base of the carpogonium (female sex organ) after fertilization. This macroscopic alga, found in streams and in the pools formed in sphagnum bogs, is one of the very few freshwater algae.