algae

See also: Algae and algæ

English

algae

algae (usually uncountable, plural algaes)[1]

Algal organisms viewed collectively or as a mass; algal growth.
- 1993, Integrated Pest Management for Rice, 2nd Ed., page 54:
  Algae grows best in shallow water, 3 inches (7.5 cm) deep or less, especially where poor seedbed preparation has created low areas with poor surface drainage, and in fields with inadequate decomposition of organic matter.
- 2014, Terry Wahls, Eve Adamson, The Wahls Protocol: How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine, page 280:
  Unlike seaweed, which grows in salt water, algae grows in freshwater ponds (chlorella or spirulina) or wild in the Pacific Northwest (Klamath blue green).
(countable) A particular kind of alga.
- 1984, Deborah A. Coulombe, The Seaside Naturalist: A Guide to Study at the Seashore, page 33:
  This hollow, lumpy, yellow-brown algae grows epiphytically in sac-like clumps on large seaweeds and on rocks.
- 1997, Amadeo M. Rea, At the Desert's Green Edge: An Ethnobotany of the Gila River Pima, page 98:
  This algae grows relatively quickly, even in temporary ponds and water holes in the desert, so it remained widely known.
- 2006, Andi Brown, The Whole Pet Diet: Eight Weeks to Great Health for Dogs and Cats, page 144:
  Although often lumped together, spirulina is a blue-green algae whereas chlorella is a green algae.

Etymologically, algae is the plural of alga, but algae is sometimes used as an uncountable noun with singular verb agreement (similar to the usage of the word seaweed), or as a count noun to refer to a type of algae. The plural form algaes may be considered nonstandard.

algae

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