Charales is an order of freshwater

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

in the division Charophyta, class

Charophyceae Charophyceae is a class of charophyte green algae. AlgaeBase places it in division Charophyta. Extant (living) species are placed in a single order Charales, commonly known as "stoneworts" and "brittleworts". Fossil members of the class may be pl ...

, commonly known as stoneworts. Depending on the treatment of the genus ''

Nitellopsis ''Nitellopsis'' is a genus of Charophyta, charophyte green algae. Some sources, including AlgaeBase, place it in the family Feistiellaceae. Others place it in the family Characeae. Species , AlgaeBase listed the following species: ;Extant *''Nite ...

'', living (extant) species are placed into either one family (

Characeae Characeae is a family of freshwater green algae in the order Charales, commonly known as stoneworts. They are also known as brittleworts or skunkweed, from the fragility of their lime-encrusted stems, and from the foul odor these produce when step ...

) or two (Characeae and

Feistiellaceae Feistiellaceae is a family of freshwater green algae in the order Charales. Genera , AlgaeBase and Fossilworks accepted three genera: *†'' Amblyochara'' Grambast – 6 species *†'' Feistiella'' Schudack – 8 species *''Nitellopsis'' Hy – 24 ...

). Further families are used for fossil members of the order. Linnaeus established the genus '' Chara'' in 1753. Chara1

Taxonomy

The higher level classification of

was unsettled . AlgaeBase places Charales within the class

and its circumscription of the division Charophyta.

Families

The number of families and their division into genera varies. , AlgaeBase accepts two families containing some extant species and four families containing only fossil species: *

S.F.Gray *

Schudack *† Aclistocharaceae X.G.Zhou (may be included in Characeae) *† Atopocharaceae R.E.Peck (may be included in Clavatoraceae) *† Clavatoraceae Pia *† Porocharaceae Grambast AlgaeBase places the genus ''

'', which has both extant and extinct species, in the family

. Other sources place ''Nitellopsis'' in the family Characeae, with Feistiellaceae containing only fossil species, so that all extant species are in the family Characeae. The

Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG) is a taxonomic database which attempts to cover published genus names for all domains of life from 1758 in zoology (1753 in botany) up to the present, arranged in a single, internally c ...

accepts a further three extinct families: *† Eocharaceae Grambast *† Palaeocharaceae Pia *† Raskyellaceae Grambast

References

External links

Images of Charales''Chara curta'' in Ireland
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14920463 Charophyta Green algae orders

Taxonomy

Families

References

Further reading

External links