{{Short description|Class of algae}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = CharaGlobularis.jpg | image_caption = ''Chara globularis'' | taxon = Charophyceae | authority = Rabenhorst<ref name=AlgaeBase/> | subdivision_ranks = Orders | subdivision_ref = <ref name=AlgaeBase/> | subdivision = *Charales *†Moellerinales *†Sycidiales *†Umbellinales }}
'''Charophyceae''' is a class of charophyte green algae. AlgaeBase places it in division Charophyta.<ref name=AlgaeBase>{{AlgaeBase taxon|name=Charophyceae|id=4348|access-date=2022-02-20}}</ref> Extant (living) species are placed in a single order Charales,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=gzNEBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Coleochaetophyceae+%28single+order+Coleochaetales%29+and+Charophyceae+%28single+order+Charales%29%22&pg=PA66 Ecological Biochemistry: Environmental and Interspecies Interactions]</ref> commonly known as "stoneworts" and "brittleworts". Fossil members of the class may be placed in separate orders, e.g. Sycidiales.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
Charophyceae is basal in the Phragmoplastophyta clade which contains the embryophytes (land plants).<ref name = "Hoek">Hoek, C. van den, Mann, D. G. & Jahns, H. M. 1995. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xuUoiFesSHMC ''Algae: An Introduction to Phycology'']. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. {{ISBN|0-521-30419-9}}</ref><ref>Streptophytina</ref><ref name = "Tolweb">McCourt, R. M., Chapman, R. L., Buchheim, M. & Mishler, B. D. [http://tolweb.org/Green_plants/2382 “Green Plants”]. Accessed 13 December 2007</ref> In 2018, the first nuclear genome sequence from a species belonging to the Charophyceae was published: that of ''Chara braunii''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nishiyama |first1=Tomoaki |last2=Sakayama |first2=Hidetoshi |last3=de Vries |first3=Jan |last4=Buschmann |first4=Henrik |last5=Saint-Marcoux |first5=Denis |last6=Ullrich |first6=Kristian K. |last7=Haas |first7=Fabian B. |last8=Vanderstraeten |first8=Lisa |last9=Becker |first9=Dirk |last10=Lang |first10=Daniel |last11=Vosolsobě |first11=Stanislav |last12=Rombauts |first12=Stephane |last13=Wilhelmsson |first13=Per K.I. |last14=Janitza |first14=Philipp |last15=Kern |first15=Ramona |last16=Heyl |first16=Alexander |last17=Rümpler |first17=Florian |last18=Villalobos |first18=Luz Irina A. Calderón |last19=Clay |first19=John M. |last20=Skokan |first20=Roman |last21=Toyoda |first21=Atsushi |last22=Suzuki |first22=Yutaka |last23=Kagoshima |first23=Hiroshi |last24=Schijlen |first24=Elio |last25=Tajeshwar |first25=Navindra |last26=Catarino |first26=Bruno |last27=Hetherington |first27=Alexander J. |last28=Saltykova |first28=Assia |last29=Bonnot |first29=Clemence |last30=Breuninger |first30=Holger |last31=Symeonidi |first31=Aikaterini |last32=Radhakrishnan |first32=Guru V. |last33=Van Nieuwerburgh |first33=Filip |last34=Deforce |first34=Dieter |last35=Chang |first35=Caren |last36=Karol |first36=Kenneth G. |last37=Hedrich |first37=Rainer |last38=Ulvskov |first38=Peter |last39=Glöckner |first39=Gernot |last40=Delwiche |first40=Charles F. |last41=Petrášek |first41=Jan |last42=Van de Peer |first42=Yves |last43=Friml |first43=Jiri |last44=Beilby |first44=Mary |last45=Dolan |first45=Liam |last46=Kohara |first46=Yuji |last47=Sugano |first47=Sumio |last48=Fujiyama |first48=Asao |last49=Delaux |first49=Pierre-Marc |last50=Quint |first50=Marcel |last51=Theißen |first51=Günter |last52=Hagemann |first52=Martin |last53=Harholt |first53=Jesper |last54=Dunand |first54=Christophe |last55=Zachgo |first55=Sabine |last56=Langdale |first56=Jane |last57=Maumus |first57=Florian |last58=Van Der Straeten |first58=Dominique |last59=Gould |first59=Sven B. |last60=Rensing |first60=Stefan A. |title=The Chara Genome: Secondary Complexity and Implications for Plant Terrestrialization |journal=Cell |date=July 2018 |volume=174 |issue=2 |pages=448–464.e24 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.033|pmid=30007417 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Description== {{Commons category}} {{Wikispecies}} The thallus is erect with regular nodes and internodes. At each node there is a whorl of branches. The whole plant is calcified and ''Equisetum''-like. The internodes of the main axis consist of a single elongated cell, in ''Chara'' the internodes are corticated covering the main axis. In other genera these are absent. Where there is a single row of cortical cells the cortex is referred to as ''diplostichous'', where there are two rows of cortical cells it is termed ''triplostichous''. The intermodal cells elongate and do not divide, they become many times longer than broad.<ref>Smith, G.M. ''Cryptogamic Botany. Second Edition''. 1955.p 121-130. McGraw-Hill Book Company.INC.</ref>
=== Evolution === Below is a consensus reconstruction of green algal relationships, mainly based on molecular data.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Linzhou Li|author2=Sibo Wang|author3=Hongli Wang|author4=Sunil Kumar Sahu|author5=Birger Marin|author6=Haoyuan Li|author7=Yan Xu|author8=Hongping Liang|author9=Zhen Li|author10=Shifeng Chen|author11=Tanja Reder|date=22 June 2020|title=The genome of Prasinoderma coloniale unveils the existence of a third phylum within green plants|journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|volume=4|issue=9|pages=1220–1231|doi=10.1038/s41559-020-1221-7|pmc=7455551|pmid=32572216|doi-access=free|author22=Yves Van de Peer|author23=Michael Melkonian|author24=Huan Liu|author21=Xin Liu|author20=Xun Xu|author19=Gane Ka-Shu Wong|author17=Huanming Yang|author16=Hongli Du|author15=Barbara Melkonian|author14=Morten Petersen|author13=Sebastian Wittek|author12=Zehra Çebi|author18=Jian Wang |bibcode=2020NatEE...4.1220L }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Puttick|first1=Mark N.|last2=Morris|first2=Jennifer L.|last3=Williams|first3=Tom A.|last4=Cox|first4=Cymon J.|last5=Edwards|first5=Dianne|last6=Kenrick|first6=Paul|last7=Pressel|first7=Silvia|last8=Wellman|first8=Charles H.|last9=Schneider|first9=Harald|date=2018|title=The Interrelationships of Land Plants and the Nature of the Ancestral Embryophyte|journal=Current Biology|volume=28|issue=5|pages=733–745.e2|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.063|pmid=29456145|bibcode=2018CBio...28E.733P |doi-access=free|hdl=1983/ad32d4da-6cb3-4ed6-add2-2415f81b46da|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sánchez-Baracaldo|first1=Patricia|last2=Raven|first2=John A.|last3=Pisani|first3=Davide|last4=Knoll|first4=Andrew H.|date=2017-09-12|title=Early photosynthetic eukaryotes inhabited low-salinity habitats|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=114|issue=37|pages=E7737–E7745|doi=10.1073/pnas.1620089114|url=https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/ws/files/132985852/pnas.1620089114.sapp.pdf|pmid=28808007|pmc=5603991|bibcode=2017PNAS..114E7737S |doi-access=free}}</ref>
{{clade |label1='''Streptophyta'''/ |sublabel1='''charophyta''' |1={{clade |label1=Mesostigmatophyceae |1={{clade |1=''Mesostigmatales'' |2={{clade |1=''Spirotaenia'' |2=Chlorokybales }} }} |2={{clade |label1= |1=Klebsormidiophyceae |label2=Phragmoplastophyta |2={{clade |1=Charophyceae |2={{clade |1=Coleochaetophyceae |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Zygnematophyceae}} |2=Embryophytes (land plants) }} }} }} }} }} |style=font-size:80%;line-height:80%}}
==References== {{Reflist|2}} {{Eukaryota|D.}} {{Plant classification}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1208690}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Charophyta Category:Green algae classes