Standard Lemma guide

thallophyte

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈθæləfaɪt/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of very many primitive plants that consist of a thallus (plant body not differentiated into roots, stems and leaves), formerly collected in the obsolete taxonomic group Thallophyta.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

Examples

  • 1994, Estrelita A. Madriaga, Anthony Lee, Felicitas B. Ventura, Orlando A. Oronce (coordinator), Biology: Science and Technology II, page 347, They lack the vascular tissues; thus, they are called thallophytes. Algae are thallophytes with chlorophyll. [...] Fungi are thallophytes without chlorophyll.
  • 1994, Pat E. Rasmussen, Chapter IV.5: Mercury in Vegetation of the Precambrian Shield, Carl J. Watras, John W. Huckabee (editors), Mercury Pollution: Integration and Synthesis, page 422, In general, the usefulness of the thallophytes as Hg bioindicators was limited by their sporadic occurrence in the forest environment. Because of the importance of the thallophytes as components of the food chain, however, several samples from different groups (summarized in Table 2) were collected for comparison with values reported in the literature.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of a group of cryptogamic organisms consisting principally of a thallus and thus showing no differentiation into stem and root and leaf

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cryptogam

History

Etymology

From translingual Thallophyta. Surface reading of thallus + -phyte (“plant”).

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: sekovartinen — plant consisting of thallus only
  • Finnish: tallofyytti — plant consisting of thallus only
  • German: Thallophyt — plant consisting of thallus only
  • German: Thalluspflanze — plant consisting of thallus only
  • Italian: tallofita — plant consisting of thallus only
  • Persian: ریسهدار (rise-dâr) — plant consisting of thallus only
  • Tagalog: suwihan — plant consisting of thallus only
  • Volapük: talofüt — plant consisting of thallus only