Charles Edwin Bessey

Cycads —constituting the division Cycadophyta—are seed plants with a stout, woody cylindrical trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and usually pinnate (feather-shaped) leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow slowly and have long lifespans. They superficially resemble palms or ferns, but are not closely related to either group. Cycads are gymnosperms. Cycads have specialized pollinators, usually a specific beetle,

Desmidiales, commonly called the desmids (Gr. desmos, bond or chain), are an order in the Charophyta, a division of green algae in which the land plants (Embryophyta) emerged. Desmids consist of single-celled (sometimes filamentous or colonial) microscopic green algae. Because desmids are highly symmetrical, attractive, and come in a diversity of forms, they are popular subjects for microscopists, both amateur and professional. The desmids belong to the class Zygnematophyceae. Although they are sometimes grouped together as a single family Desmidiaceae, most classifications recognize three to

The Closteriaceae are one of four families of Charophyte green algae in the order Desmidiales (desmids). It contains two genera, Closterium and Spinoclosterium.

The glaucophytes, also known as glaucocystophytes or glaucocystids, are a small group of unicellular algae found in freshwater and moist terrestrial environments, less common today than they were during the Proterozoic. The stated number of species in the group varies from about 14 to 26. Together with the much larger sister taxa Rhodophyta (red algae) and Viridiplantae/Chloroplastida (green algae and land plants), they form the primary algae clade Archaeplastida. The glaucophytes are of interest to biologists studying the evolution of chloroplasts as they may be similar to the ancestral

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The Zoopagales is an order of fungi in the subdivision Zoopagomycotina. Most species are parasites or predators of microscopic creatures such as amoebae. They also prey on rotifers. The order contains 5 families, 22 genera, and 190 species.

Rorippa curvisiliqua is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name curvepod yellowcress. It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Wyoming. It is also native to the northwest part of Mexico. It can be found in various types of moist and wet habitat, including lakeshores and riverbanks, meadows, roadsides, and mudflats.

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