Protophyte

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Protophyte \Pro"to*phyte\, n. [Proto- + Gr. ? a plant.] (Bot.)
     Any unicellular plant, or plant forming only a plasmodium,
     having reproduction only by fission, gemmation, or cell
     division.
     [1913 Webster]
  


     Note: The protophytes (Protophyta) are by some botanists
           considered an independent branch or class of the
           vegetable kingdom, and made to include the lowest forms
           of both fungi and alg[ae], as slime molds, Bacteria,
           the nostocs, etc. Cf. {Carpophyte}, and {Oophyte}.
           [1913 Webster]