gonidium

American  

[goh-nid-ee-uhm] / goʊˈnɪd i əm /

noun

plural

gonidia

1. (in algae) any one-celled asexual reproductive body, as a tetraspore or zoospore.

2. an algal cell, or a filament of an alga, growing within the thallus of a lichen.

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gonidium British  

/ ɡəˈnɪdɪəm /

noun

1. a green algal cell in the thallus of a lichen

2. an asexual reproductive cell in some colonial algae

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gonidium Scientific  

/ gō-nĭd′ē-əm /

plural

gonidia

1. An asexual reproductive cell found in certain algae that form colonies. Gonidia undergo repeated mitoses to form new colonies, which then hatch out of the parent colonies.

2. A chlorophyll-bearing, photosynthetic algal cell housed in the thallus of a lichen.

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Other Word Forms

• gonidial adjective
• gonidic adjective
• gonidioid adjective
• intergonidial adjective

Etymology

Origin of gonidium

1835–45; < New Latin, equivalent to gon- gon- + -idium noun suffix

Example Sentences

It is also to be noted as a significant fact, that the cellulose wall was intact at the apex, instead of showing the opening through which in ordinary cases the gonidium escapes.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 by Various

These contents are now gradually forming themselves into the spore or "gonidium," as Carpenter calls it, in distinction from the true sexual spores, which he terms "oospores."

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 by Various

The motile force is imparted to the gonidium by dense rows of waving cilia with which it is completely surrounded.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 by Various

Eminent English authorities have advanced the theory that the ciliated gonidium of Vaucheria is in reality a densely crowded aggregation of biciliated zoospores, similar to those found in many other confervoid algæ.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 by Various