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Chara
Also called Muskgrass, Stonewort, Stoneworts
Chara is a genus of multicellular freshwater green algae, called stoneworts, that look like small submerged plants and are coated in lime. Most species grow fully underwater in clean, hard, limestone-rich lakes and ponds, so they are grown mainly in aquariums or ponds rather than as houseplants.
Chara is a genus of charophyte green algae in the family Characeae. They are multicellular and superficially resemble land plants because of stem-like and leaf-like structures. They are found in freshwater, particularly in limestone areas throughout the northern temperate zone, where they grow submerged, attached to the muddy bottom. They prefer less oxygenated and hard water and are generally not found in waters where mosquito larvae are present.
The species are covered with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) deposits and are hence commonly known as stoneworts. Cyanobacteria have been found growing as epiphytes on the surfaces of Chara, where they may be involved in fixing nitrogen, which is important to plant nutrition.
Chara has a cosmopolitan distribution, from 69 degrees north in northern Norway to about 49 degrees south in Kerguelen Islands (Pal et al., 1962). About 51 species are found in India.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chara (alga) by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
