Relating to or characteristic of green algae, especially the class Chlorophyceae.
From Chlorophyceae plus -ous (full of/having the quality of). The adjectival form allows biologists to describe properties of green algae without specifying exact taxonomic placement.
The suffix -ous is doing heavy lifting here—it transforms a specific taxonomic class name into a flexible descriptor, so you can talk about 'chlorophyceous characteristics' without needing to list every green algae species being studied.
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