Bot. [f. TETRA- + SPORE.] A group (usually) of four asexual spores, resulting from the division of a mother cell, in the Florideæ, a group of Algæ.
1857. Berkeley, Cryptog. Bot., § 88. 108. Tetraspores, mostly immersed in the fronds.
1867. Brande & Cox, Dict. Sc., etc., III. 754/2. Tetraspore [is] one of the forms of fructification found in some sea-weeds. It consists of little clusters of spores, in most cases four in number, but very rarely eight.
1875. J. H. Balfour, in Encycl. Brit., I. 508/2. Spores have a tendency to divide into four; such compound spores are called tetraspores.
Hence Tetrasporic, Tetrasporous adjs., composed of or producing tetraspores.
1857. Berkeley, Cryptog. Bot., § 172. 195. Distinguished by their almost constant production of tetrasporic, instead of polysporic, moniliform threads.
1874. Cooke, Fungi, 26. [He] has demonstrated that they are habitually tetrasporous.
