Portrait

Description:

Portrait of the nonmotile green alga, Franceia droescheri (Lemmermann, 1898). The cell is ovoid with a thin inflexible cell wall. Usually solitary but may be found in small colonies embedded in a gelatinous matrix.Long fine slightly tapered spinous projections are randomly distributed over the entire cell surface. The otherwise identical Chodatella ciliata has spines lacalized to the poles of the cell. F. droescheri has one to three parietal chloroplasts eache with a pyrenoid.The nucleus is not well seen in this image. Collected from freshwater pond near Boise, Idaho December 2003. DIC optics.