The Palmophyllales are a deep-branching order of thalloid

green alga 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 ...

, possibly forming a sister group to the

Chlorophyta Chlorophyta or Prasinophyta is a taxon of green algae informally called chlorophytes. The name is used in two very different senses, so care is needed to determine the use by a particular author. In older classification systems, it refers to a ...

. They survive today in deep waters, where

predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

pressure is reduced. The group contains the genera '' Palmophyllum'', '' Verdigellas'' and '' Palmoclathrus''. The morphology of Palmophyllales is unusual in that they are composed of cells in a

gelatinous Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

matrix, so they are

multicellular A multicellular organism is an organism that consists of more than one cell, in contrast to unicellular organism. All species of animals, land plants and most fungi are multicellular, as are many algae, whereas a few organisms are partially un ...

, but not in a conventional way.

Genera

* '' Palmoclathrus'' Womersley 1971 * '' Palmophyllum'' Kützing 1845 non Conwentz 1886 * '' Verdigellas'' Ballantine & Norris 1994

References

Green algae orders Palmophyllophyceae {{Algae-stub