Order : Ectocarpales

Important Characteristics

• Plant body is branched, heterotrichous and filamentous and some are psedoparenchymatous.
• Plant body elongates by intercalary growth.
• In filamentous form the cells are arranged uniseriatly.
• Each cell contains chloroplast with pyrenoids.
• Reproduction take place both asexually and sexually. 
• Asexual reproduction take place by plurilocular sporangia.
• Sexual reproduction take place by isogamy and anisogamy, oogamy is absent.

Family : Ectocarpaceae

1. Plant body is filamentous, heterotrichous, pseudoparenchymatous.
2. Sexual reproduction is isogamous.
3. Alternation of generation is isomorphic.

Example: Ectocarpus