Survey of the botanical Phyla
Oomycota ![[audio pronunciation]](../sounds/speaker.gif)
General features of the heterokonts
Common name
Egg fungi, water molds
Synonyms
None (sometimes included in the “Phycomycota” of old references; but the name properly applies to the Zygomycota)
Mode of nutrition
Heterotrophic: saprophytic or parasitic
Habitat
Freshwater or within host organism (which may be a terrestrial plant)
Growth habit
Multicellular mycelium of aseptate hyphae
Cell wall
Cellulose
Undulipodia (“flagella”)
One whiplash, one tinsel
Food storage
Mycolaminarin
Clonal reproduction
Zoospores
Sexual reproduction
Diploid dominant, oogamous
Representative genera
Phytophthora, Pythium, Saprolegnia
Recognized by
Oogonia with 4, 8, or 16 eggs.