Conferva
a genus of algals, the typical of the sub-order conferveæ and the order confervaceæ. Most of the species species are marine, though a few are freshwater. Rabenhorst describes 30 in all.
CONFERVACEÆ, an order of flowerless plants, alliance algales. They are water-plants, generally green, but occasionally olive, violet, and red; most of them are found in fresh water, attached or floating, some in salt water, and a few in both. The confervaceæ bear the lichens cœnogonium and cystocoleus.