{{Short description|Genus of algae}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Die süsswasser-flora Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schwez.. (1914) (20759686459).jpg | image_caption = ''Oedocladium protonema'' | taxon = Oedocladium | authority = Stahl ex Hirn | type_species = Oedocladium protonema | type_species_authority = Stahl ex Hirn<ref name=AlgaeBase>{{AlgaeBase genus | id=43423 | title=''Oedocladium'' Stahl ex Hirn, 1900 | access-date=2026-04-24 }}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''Oedocladium carolinianum'' * ''Oedocladium prescottii'' }}
'''''Oedocladium''''' is an uncommon genus of green algae in the order Oedogoniales.<ref>See the NCBI [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=55991 webpage on Oedocladium]. Data extracted from the {{cite web | url=https://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/ | title=NCBI taxonomy resources | publisher=National Center for Biotechnology Information | access-date=2007-03-19}}</ref> It is terrestrial, growing in soil or occasionally in fresh water.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
==Description== ''Oedocladium'' consists of uniseriate, branched filaments. When growing on soil, filaments creep along the ground, with narrow hyaline rhizoidal branches growing into the soil. Apical cells of filaments are often conically pointed.<ref name=John2014>{{cite book |editor-first1=John D.|editor-last1=Wehr|editor-first2=Robert G.|editor-last2=Sheath|editor-first3=J. Patrick|editor-last3=Kociolek |date= 2014 |edition=2 |title= Freshwater Algae of North America: Ecology and Classification |last1= John|first1=David M.| last2=Rindi |first2=Fabio |chapter= Chapter 8. Filamentous (Nonconjugating) and Plantlike Green Algae |url= |location= |publisher= Elsevier Inc. |page=375–427 |isbn=978-0-12-385876-4 }}</ref> Vegetative cells are cylindrical, uninucleate, with a parietal, reticulate chloroplast with one to several pyrenoids. The vegetative cells divide in a similar fashion to those of ''Oedogonium''.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
==Life cycle== ''Oedocladium'' reproduces both sexually and asexually. Asexual reproduction typically occurs via multiflagellate zoospores, or less commonly akinetes or fragmentation of filaments.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
Sexual reproduction is oogamous. ''Oedocladium'' may be monoecious or dioecious. The oogonia is borne on a single supporting cell called the suffultory cell, and are borne singly or in series at the ends of filaments. Oogonia produce a single egg, which are fertilized by multiflagellate sperm cells. The resulting zygospore eventually turns red and develops a thick cell wall.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
==References==
{{Reflist|1}}
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Category:Chlorophyceae genera Category:Oedogoniales
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