Nostoc: taxon details and analytics
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Bacteria
- Phylum
- Cyanobacteria
- Class
- Cyanophyceae
- Order
- Nostocales
- Family
- Nostocaceae
- Genus
- Nostoc
- Species
- Scientific Name
- Nostoc
Summary description from Wikipedia:
Nostoc
Nostoc, also known as star jelly, troll's butter, spit of moon, fallen star, witch's butter (not to be confused with the fungi commonly known as witches' butter), and witch's jelly, is the most common genus of cyanobacteria found in a variety of both aquatic and terrestrial environments that may form colonies composed of filaments of moniliform cells in a gelatinous sheath of polysaccharides. It may also grow symbiotically within the tissues of plants, providing nitrogen to its host through the action of terminally differentiated cells known as heterocysts. Nostoc is a genus that includes many species that are diverse in morphology, habitat distribution, and ecological function. Nostoc can be found in soil, on moist rocks, at the bottom of lakes and springs, and rarely in marine habitats. It may also be found in terrestrial temperate, desert, tropical, or polar environments.
The name Nostoc was coined by Paracelsus and is a combination of the English nostril and German Nasenloch "nose hole, nostril", likely due to appearance of many species' colonies being similar to nasal mucus. When it is on the ground, a Nostoc colony is ordinarily not seen, but after a rain, it swells up into a conspicuous, jellylike mass, which was once thought to have fallen from the sky, hence the popular names, like star jelly, troll's butter, and witch's butter mentioned above.
...Nostoc in languages:
- Chinese
- 念珠藻屬
- English
- star jellies
- English
- nostoc cyanobacteria
- Finnish
- sinimolluset
- Italian
- Spuma di Primavera
- Japanese
- ネンジュモ属
- Polish
- Trzęsidło
- Russian
- Носток
- Swedish
- cyanobakterier av släktet Nostoc
- Thai
- สกุล สาหร่ายนอสตอก
- Ukrainian
- Носток
Images from inaturalist.org observations:
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Parent Taxon
Child Taxa
- Nostoc caeruleum
- Nostoc calcicola
- Nostoc coeruleum
- Nostoc comminutum
- Nostoc commune
- Nostoc cycadae
- Nostoc ellipsosporum
- Nostoc flagelliforme
- Nostoc kihlmanii
- Nostoc linckia
- Nostoc microscopicum
- Nostoc muscorum
- Nostoc paludosum
- Nostoc parmelioides
- Nostoc piscinale
- Nostoc planctonicum
- Nostoc pruniforme
- Nostoc punctiforme
- Nostoc sphaericum
- Nostoc spongiaeforme
- Nostoc verrucosum
- Nostoc zetterstedtii































































































































































