Giant algae - Naturalist engraving - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Engraving reproduction of: Giant algae

Original title Siphoneae - Riesen-Algetten

Poster of Caulerpa - Protozoa of the main class of Algae (Green Algae Class, Chlorophyceae)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Phylum of Protophytes (Protophyta)
Main class of primitive algae (Zoosporata)
Class of Giant Algae (Siphoneae)

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Siphoneae - Giant Algae :

The class Siphoneae, also called "tube algae," stands out significantly among the most remarkable divisions of the plant kingdom. Usually classified as "tube algae" or "reniform algae," their members are often considered part of the main class of algae or marine plants. However, unlike true algae (see Tables 15 and 65), which are multicellular and form varied tissues from different cell shapes, the Siphoneae are unicellular, like all "primitive plants" or Protophytes (see Tables 4, 14, 24, 34). The most remarkable feature of these "tube algae" is that the unicellular organism reaches an extraordinary size, branches widely, and produces by division of its body structures that sometimes resemble the multicellular thallus of lower algae (bryophytes) and sometimes the body of higher plants with stem, root, and leaves. The "tube cell" or "thalloid" of the Siphoneae typically reaches several centimeters, sometimes more than a meter, in length, forming a branched tube whose basal roots resemble true plant roots. The stem of the cell, similar to a true stem, has unlimited growth potential and usually bears numerous apical branches in its upper half, taking the form of leaves and fruiting bodies. The thin but strong wall of the green tube contains a single hollow central space filled with cytoplasm and starch-rich cell sap; within the wall, the cytoplasm contains numerous small vacuoles and green chloroplasts. The family Caulerpaceae (Fig. 1-6) is represented solely by the genus Caulerpa, remarkable for its extraordinary variability among its many species and for the complete absence of specific reproductive organs; it reproduces solely by fragmentation and detachment of its individual shoots or stolons. In contrast, most other Siphoneae reproduce by spores or "zoospores" produced in specialized sporangia. These are often arranged in a very regular manner on the radial apical branches that emanate from the central stem of the single-celled tube, as in the Dasycladaceae (Fig. 8-11).

Species present on the naturalist board of Giant Algae - Caulerpa :

• Caulerpa racemosa
• Caulerpa uvifera
• Caulerpa pinnata
• Caulerpa peltata
• Caulerpa paspaloides
• Caulerpa macrodisca
• Struvea plumosa
• Neomeris kelleri
• Acetabularia mediterranea
• Bornetella capitata